The Lost Primarch
by ArmedSammy123
Summary: No Imperial records of the Second Primarch or his Legion of Adeptus Astartes exist. They have long since been purged on orders of the Emperor, yet this does not mean he did not once live, nor that he does not still live. In a Galaxy eerily similar yet foreign to the one he once inhabited, will the Primarch of the Second Legion be able to survive and adapt or will he die forgotten?
1. Chapter 1

The soft caress of gentle hands, the tormented and twisted screams of inhuman creatures burning alive, the smell of flowers in the air. Billions of hands grasping forward, burnt and decayed, seeking revenge…seeking justice. Worlds are born into a new era of civilization, continents are consumed in holy flame, bodies writhe against each other in ecstasy…a calm bliss overwhelming the senses…a feeling of inescapable dread rises to consume all. Hope blossoms in the most unlikely of places, death sweeps across a galaxy, betrayal at the hands of a father. A million voices rise up in praise, billions groan in horror, silence consumes all.

"You are the Lightbringer! The one to free us from the shackles of darkness!" An adoptive father, declaring his son's fate.

"The Emperor believes in you, trusts you, warn him of what is to come." A trusted son, advising his father.

"I love you, no matter what the others think, we are meant to be." A lover most terrible.

"You are a failure, a tool of our enemies, you shall be purged just like them." A father in his moment of betrayal.

"You were my brother! But you chose to betray us…to choose Xenos over Humanity…you will die for this treason!" A brother, torn between love and duty.

With a gasp, two pounding hearts, and three lungs struggling to gain breath, a lost son awoke on a volcanic world. He struggled to his feet, bruises across his body writhing in pain from the new movement, hidden behind his thick plates of adamantium, plasteel, and ceramite armor, the once beautiful black armor with gold details now covered in innumerable gashes, craters, and scratches…a testament to the amount of firepower that it had been subjected to. A helmeted head in the shape of a golden skull with blood-red eyes rose up to look around at his surroundings, a slight groan emanating from beneath it at the stinging pain of heavy bruises as they soon began to rapidly heal. Eventually the figure looked down at the dust and dirt at his feet, seeing before him his two weapons, a master-crafted double-edged chainsword with no covering over its tip or rear blades of adamantium, heavily engraved in ancient runes and symbols of fire and flames, and a strangely yet masterfully constructed weapon which seemed to be made of two different weapons…one a piece of fine engineering that spit out bolts that could tear apart even the strongest of foes and another who's beam vaporized even the thickest of armors. The Lost Son bent down and picked up the two weapons, both of which had claimed thousands of lives themselves, and gave their user a newfound sense of purpose as he began to limp off in a seemingly random direction, leaving nothing but a rapidly drying pool of blood behind him.

He walked for nearly an hour, past lakes of burning magma, through the featureless hot ash, dust, and dirt covered valleys and hilltops. The Lost Son's mind wandered, was this all that was left of his home, had he survived the bombardment, how? These questions and more raced through his mind, driving him mad as emotions ran through him, and ultimately it culminated in an ear-shattering scream directed at the sky as the lost son stared up at the stars hidden behind clouds of ash.

"Why have you forsaken me, father!? I tried to save you! SAVE EVERYONE!" The lost son shouted, anger, rage, hatred, and pain all flowing through him as he let loose another roar of agony into the uncaring air…into a sky without care for him.

Flames began to envelop his body, bright, red and orange, crawling across his gold and black armor, across his exposed skin…and yet he did not howl in pain…only further rage and anguish. The inhuman noise emanating from the Lost Son's throat echoing in the valley he found himself in, going on as if for miles into the sky, reverberating through his very soul.

"I WAS LOYAL! I KILLED FOR YOU, SERVED YOU, I WAS YOUR INSTRUMENT OF DEATH! WHY DID YOU BETRAY ME, DESTROY MY PEOPLE, KILL MY SONS!? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!?" The Lost Son's screams went unheard and soon he fell to his knees, defeated in mind and body, his questions unanswered and his agony nigh unbearable.

The Lost Son knew that soon the voices would come, they always did at moments like this, his moments of pain and weakness. They'd promise him everything he'd ever wanted, power beyond his belief, glory beyond what he already had, recognition for who he really was…so on and so forth. Every time before he'd been able to deny them, to fight back, to say no…but now…now they could offer him nothing more than the sweet release of death and he'd accept…he knew it to be true. But they never came, their seductive voices, their enticing offers, their subtle power…it never came. Anguish gave way to confusion, confusion gave way to curiosity, and curiosity led the Lost Son to throw his psychic might into searching the Warp…only to find it amazingly calm…and amazingly desolate.

The Immaterium was silent, not a single storm, not a single wave or even a few eddies, it was quiet and seemingly lifeless. The Psyker searched through the Warp and found to his amazement that his presence attracted nothing, nor could it find even that obnoxiously overpowering presence of his father…or even the slightly less bright essence of his brother…for the first time the Lost Son felt alone in the Warp. That loneliness brought back the Lost Son's anguish, he couldn't find his sons, he couldn't find the source of those voices he'd become so used to, he could find nothing…and he came to the conclusion that this was Hell…he'd died on Raxium and gone to Hell for the sins he'd committed in life. Suddenly though, the Lost Son felt his head forced back by a heavy-hitting force and the sound of high speed metal bouncing off his helmet rang out…soon followed by the sound of a strange mechanical chatter. Opening his golden eyes from beneath his helmet's mask the Lost Son turned his head to look towards the strange chatter…and found something that made him confused and angry. A strange mechanical figure with strangely backwards arched legs, three fingered metallic hands, and a single brightly shining 'eye' was looking at him alongside several other machines just like itself…in its strange hands was a rifle-like object with a few small wisps of smoke coming from its barrel.

"Abominable Intelligences? If this is Hell, then I am not surprised to see you here…you annoy me, be gone." The Lost Son commanded, extending an armored hand out towards the machines before suddenly ethereal flames shot forth, consuming the machines in white-hot flames that seemed unnaturally intense, as if from the center of a star, they had less than a second before they were melted and then simply vaporized by the intense heat…leaving nothing but glassed earth behind to show where they had once stood.

With a groan the Lost Son once more stood up and listened carefully on the wind as he heard it carry the distant sounds of battle, if this was Hell then it seemed it wanted to test him. With a resigned sigh the Lost Son took up his chainsword and combi-weapon and began running towards the sounds of war…resigning himself to an eternity of battle.

 **/**

 **Therum, 2183...**

Commander Jane Shepard blew away a strand of her red hair that was annoyingly not tucked behind her like it should've been while under her helmet, her freckled face scrunching up in annoyance as she tried to ignore the offending piece of hair as bullets flew by her small piece of cover in the form of a supply crate that hadn't been brought into the dig site by the time the Geth arrived. All around her the fireteam she'd brought down on the Mako fought fiercely against the overwhelming numbers of Geth that were doing everything they could to keep Shepard and her team from reaching the archeological dig site and the Asari within.

"Garrus, cover me, I'm moving to new cover!" Shepard ordered, preparing herself as Garrus's icon on her HUD blinked green in confirmation.

The sharp crack of a rifle signaled another Geth down and the fire lessened somewhat, telling Shepard he'd took down one of the big ones again. The slight decrease in incoming gave Shepard all the time she needed to sprint out from behind her box towards a new one slightly forward, steadying her Avenger on the crate she let loose two quick bursts of fire that caught two Geth troopers before being forced back down by an overwhelming barrage of return fire.

"Shepard, more Geth reinforcements are on their way, I've got several dropships on scanners." Came Joker's voice through her earpiece.

Shepard cursed and before she could respond heard Tali over the same earpiece, "Shepard, two armatures are setting up to our front, we're losing control of the situation."

At this rate she was going to need to order a retreat as she ordered, "Tali, try to hack one of those armatures, Wrex, Garrus, try to pick off a few more of those Primes. Confuse the Geth so we can capitalize!"

She got two affirmations and a grunt in reply as she crouched around her cover and began firing into a Prime's shields, giving Garrus the weakened target he needed in order to force the Geth to compensate for the loss of a command unit, with a gunshot that stood above all the others Garrus's rifle roared and the Prime's head exploded into a shower of metal, hydraulic fluid, and wires as his shot rang true. And although the loss of the Prime gave the fireteam the opportunity to lay into the Geth it lasted only a second before once more the Geth gained fire superiority on Shepard and her team.

"It's no use Commander, we can't take them all on by ourselves!" Garrus called over the team's comms, a hint of reservation and perhaps even annoyance in his tone.

"Tali, how's that armature going?" Shepard asked, ignoring her sniper for the moment.

"I can't get through Shepard, those dropships are starting to make up for the losses the Geth are taking on the ground, if we stay any longer they'll overrun us fully." Tali replied defeatedly, and to be fair, Shepard herself was having a hard time being optimistic considering there were far more Geth here then they could've imagined.

Shepard and her team were good, there was no doubt, but there were limits to even what a four-man fireteam could do and these endless waves of Geth were becoming too much. At this rate, Shepard knew she had only one option left, call the retreat and consolidate on the Mako before having the Normandy come in and drop Kaiden, Ashley, and the entire Normandy marine detachment…they'd have to take this dig site by force seeing how they couldn't do it with precision.

And so, with reservation and defeat Shepard ordered, "Garrus, Wrex, cover Tali and I, we're pulling back to the Mako. Leapfrog from cover to cov-"

*BOOM*

The sudden explosion that engulfed one of the Geth Armatures caught Shepard off guard and caused her to trail off as suddenly a beam of light appeared behind the second one before that too blew apart from the beam's touch.

"That's not my doing Shepard." Tali quickly informed as her voice betrayed a hint of awe.

Suddenly the sound of a…chainsaw(?) or something similar filled the air and the ground seemingly trembled as a previously unseen hulking figure emerged from behind the flaming wreckage of the two armatures and fell upon the now stunned Geth forces who barely had time to turn around before the awesome black-armored and flaming figure fell upon them. With the terrible sound of whirring metal tearing through metal, the fiery figure cut a Geth juggernaut in half as if it was nothing more than paper before moving with inhuman speed so fast that Shepard physically couldn't process the figure as it bisected several other Geth troopers unfortunate enough to be standing nearby. The giant weapon the figure wielded looked like a cross between a medieval knight's sword and a chainsaw, though certainly bared many of the traits of the latter as it sawed through two more primes and then an entire squad of Geth troopers. Shepard shook herself from her momentary awestruck staring and took aim at the now fully confused Geth who also seemed to be unable to track the figure who moved so fast it seemed it simply teleported from foe to foe, cutting down several troopers herself as they seemingly forgot about her fireteam but couldn't act as command unit after command unit fell to the figure's blade. Her team followed suit soon after and the Geth began falling in droves as they were caught between a monster that was cutting them apart single-handedly and the elite team of operatives who were accurately and efficiently cleaning up whatever the monster missed.

As Shepard continued firing into the Geth she noticed something disturbing about her team's 'savior'…he…or she…or it was completely silent save for the sound of its armor deflecting round after round from the Geth, the hydraulics of its seemingly powered armor, and of course the whirling of the figure's blade as it cut a clean path through every Geth it could find. It did not let loose a war cry, didn't taunt the Geth, didn't even call over to Shepard and her team…it just cut through the Geth like an inhuman warrior sent down from heaven itself…or considering the figure was covered in flames that didn't seem to do anything to it, Hell itself. Within a minute the Geth were completely slaughtered, nearly two hundred units, mostly regular troopers, lay in various heaps and states of destruction and among their midst was that single, solitary figure who's black and gold armor was wreathed in flames as if it was a demon from Hell. The figure's back was to Shepard but slowly, carefully, silently almost, it turned, and the Systems Alliance Commander soon found herself staring into two blood-red eyes bored into a golden skull that seemed to gaze into her soul. Carefully Shepard stood up from behind her cover, keeping her rifle at the low-ready position as she took a few steps towards the huge figure.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Systems Allian-" Shepard was cut off as the figure raised his left arm and pointed a strange double-barreled weapon straight at her, she could hear her team behind her raise their weapons in turn though for a split moment Shepard wondered if they'd even stand a chance considering what she'd just seen.

Then the mysterious savior fired, one of the barrels erupting in light as the projectile rocketed out towards its target, Shepard waited for the pain, the impact on her shields and armor before the inevitable tearing of flesh…but it never came. Instead the figure lowered its arm and adjusted its gaze slightly, just enough for Shepard to realize it hadn't actually been looking at her until right then, and so with a slow turn of her body she noticed the Geth Hopper slump into the ground with a very large hole in its 'torso'.

Looking back at the figure Shepard opened her mouth to speak but was beaten to it when the figure for the first time spoke in a language similar but seemingly foreign to Shepard's native English as her translator worked to piece together his meaning, the deep baritone voice seemingly echoing all its own, holding an ethereal beauty in nature, "Do not thank me, Commander Shepard. It is a sacred duty of mine to wipe out Abominable Intelligences wherever they may roam."

"Uh…he means the Geth, right?" Garrus asked as he approached from Shepard's back right.

The skull turned away from Shepard and she looked to see both Tali and Wrex joining the Turian by her side, it then turned back to her and asked in a weary tone, "What did that Xenos say?"

Shepard pursed her lips at that, it seemed this figure must have been some form of Human if he could understand Shepard but didn't have a translator which worked for Garrus, and so she proceeded with caution, "He asked if you meant the Geth...I've never heard them called 'Abominable Intelligences' before."

The figure was silent a few moments before a sober chuckle escaped him, "Do you know what I am, Commander?"

Shepard shook her head at the question and replied neutrally, "No, I do not know who you are."

 **/**

 **The Lost Son…**

Now that…that was strange, stranger than the three Xenos creatures that stood by the human Commander speaking in what the Lost Son thought was a rather archaic version of Low Gothic, how did she not instantly recognize what he was? No other individual in the Imperium was so misinformed that they wouldn't instantly be able to recognize a being as a Primarch, maybe not their name or anything like that, but still the stories of the Primarchs were far and wide within the Imperium. Wait, that was it, this wasn't the Imperium, this is the…Systems Alliance?

"Curious." The Lost Son muttered more to his train of thought than to the group's unknowing of him, he'd have to figure out where exactly he was, it was becoming more and more clear this wasn't Hell…so was this a test perhaps?

Had his Father left him on a yet to be Imperialized world? Or had He thought it uninhabited and so left the Lost Son here to die? A million questions and few answers, the Lost Son would need to be careful, to take in what information he could and contemplate the facts.

And so, he looked up from his musing and introduced himself to the human Commander, "I am Liberius, of the planet Raxium, you claim to be a Commander of the Systems Alliance…is this your world?"

The human hesitated, to Liberius it was clear in the way she held herself that she was confused by his answer, for the mind of a Primarch her return answer took centuries but was only a moment in truth, "One of many…yes. Listen, Liberius, I'm afraid we're short of time. Right now, the Geth have several dropships on their way to drop a lot more units on our heads, my team and I are attempting to secure an Asari scientist inside the dig site up that ramp over to your left. If you wouldn't mind, we could use your help, who knows how many more Geth they already have inside."

Liberius thought it over and figured that if these Abominable Intelligences they called the Geth wanted this 'Asari' then he best deny them it, and so with a quick nod he began stomping up the ramp towards the dig site itself…leaving behind four operatives who shared a quick look before following after him with haste.

After they entered the long tunnel that led down into the dig site, the Commander strode in front of him and held up an earpiece, before Liberius could ask what it was for she explained, "It's a translator, you'll be able to understand my crewmates with this and the environment in here is safe enough to put it in…that is if that, umm, fire surrounding you won't fry it."

Liberius looked down at his right arm as if he hadn't noticed the flames that covered him from head to toe, and with a simple mental command it disappeared, looking back to the human he took the offered earpiece and studied it a moment. Without further words he brought his free hand up and triggered the helmet seals, with a slight hiss the skull helmet came off and revealed a rather well-built if somewhat long and angular face. Liberius had a strong jaw, a prominent chiseled nose, piercing eyes of literal golden color that seemingly held an ethereal glow, proportional ears that ended in slight points, and his raven-black hair was shaved down to better fit within his helmet, overall his face even with his pale skin looked like the artwork of a god…which in a sense it might as well have been. As Liberius placed the earbud in his pointed right ear he noticed the Commander's stance, it was certainly off put, she had not expected to see what she had.

"You are surprised, Commander?" Liberius asked, the commander portion being synthesized as he reequipped his skull-faced helmet.

"Y-you're...human?" The female Xenos with the same strange backwards legs as those 'Geth' asked…this time Liberius could understand her thanks to the earpiece.

"Yes…and no. It is a long tale, one not suited for a field of battle." Liberius answered, turning back down the tunnel and continuing to march forward.

"Well, this tunnel is long enough to give us a minute." That original Xenos to speak outside stated, rather plainly in-fact.

"It is a tale that takes more than a minute Xenos." Was all Liberius replied, before simply adding, "Let us leave it at I am something better than a simple human. My show earlier should be more than enough proof of that."

That seemed to be enough for the Xenos, though Liberius couldn't see him from being in the front of their group, the Xenos did not pursue the topic any further. As the group reached the bottom of the long tunnel they came across a large cavern that fell into a deep chasm, an elevator along the side of the cavern would provide a safe way down for them all and so they made their way along the edge of the chasm towards the only way up and down.

As the group entered, with Liberius being forced to duck slightly in order to fit, the Lost Son asked, "What does an Asari Xenos look like? I don't know what we're looking for I'm afraid."

The Commander's pose again betrayed confusion, her expressions even underneath her sealed armor as easy to read as a child's book for the Primarch, as she replied, "Like a blue human female...she'll have tentacle-like appendages on her head instead of hair, Asari are ethereally beautiful some say, it's hard to argue against that."

"Hmm...a Xenos that who's appearance seeks to replicate human beauty, interesting. Only the Eldar came close in my travels in the Galaxy." Liberius noted, though a bit uneasy about bringing up the Eldar so soon, he needed to see if they would be known to this Human and her strange Xenos companions.

"Eldar?" The large red-armored Xeno grumbled in interest from Liberius's side, "Never killed one of those before...let alone heard of one."

"I've never heard of an Eldar before either...where'd you say you were from again?" The female Xenos asked, curiosity piquing her voice.

"It does not matter Xenos...your innocence on the matter is most revealing, and most troubling." Liberius noted neutrally, though inside he was beginning to grow worried, these creatures and their human handler were seeming all the more foreign to him as time went on...where was he and what had happened between the Scourging of Raxium and now?

The normally contemplative Primarch however did not have time to dwell on that as the Human Commander asked, "How troubling?"

"Not enough to interfere with your mission Commander...that is all you need to know." Liberius answered vaguely, he was not yet willing to give away too much.

As if on cue the elevator stopped and opened with a screech that indicated a need for oiling of its parts, Liberius watched the others walk ahead of him as he took up the rear, trying to give himself a moment to think as he followed behind slowly. So far, he had learned that whatever this Systems Alliance was it was united with or at least working with several Xenos species, there were Abominable Intelligences running around, and none of them had heard of the Eldar or Primarchs...and most likely not of the Imperium. To round things off Liberius couldn't sense either his brother or his Father, yet his powers granted to him by the Immaterium seemed unaffected, which meant either they no longer shined within the unusually calm Immaterium or...or what? Liberius wondered this point as he followed the others off their current platform to another one below by jumping off the broken upper platform to the more intact one below. Even if they were both in Warp travel at the exact same time Liberius still should've been able to find them, even communicate with them...which meant one of two things, either they were both dead, something Liberius thought impossible...or they simply didn't exist here.

If they didn't exist here though...then where was here? It had not escaped Liberius that the weapons and technology both these Systems Alliance operatives and those things they called the Geth were far below the standards of the Imperium, but technology regressing to inferior states was not an unusual occurrence for lost human worlds after the Age of Strife...but then again this didn't seem like regression so much as simply a complete and utter different baseline. After all their weapons seemed not to use chemical propellant like the common Autogun would, and some parts of their wear and equipment seemed rather sleek and advanced, just not to the same degree of advancement as Liberius was used to. Perhaps something far more sinister was at hand here, Liberius knew he'd need to do more digging to figure it out, digging he wouldn't be able to do at some xenoarchaeology site.

Before Liberius could think further on this train of thought however he heard the faintest whisper of a voice, he thought through his earpiece...but he wasn't certain of anything other than it being feminine in origin, _"Hello!? Is someone there? I could use some help!"_

"Did you hear that?" Liberius asked as his companions seemingly kept moving without hearing the voice.

"Hear what?" The large Xenos asked.

"Someone called for help." Liberius answered simply, he grabbed his master-crafted chainsword off his hip where it had stayed maglocked and took lead as the group stepped aside to follow.

A small recess in the side of the cavern seemed to be the only place for that voice to have come from, currently too small for Liberius to fit through, but certainly large enough for even that oversized Xenos to enter. Closing his golden eyes underneath his skull-faced helmet Liberius let his power once more wash over him as the flames returned, and then to the amazement of the operatives behind him he shrunk down to only about seven feet even in his armor, a little over six had he not been inside the master-crafted armor fit for a Primarch. Without a word he began down into the dark recess, lighting up the small tunnel with his ethereal flames.

"H-how...what did I just see? Did you guys see that, I'm not going crazy am I?" The female Xenos in the team stammered on behind Liberius, he paid her little attention as he continued down the tunnel, seeking out the secrets that lay within its darkness, bringing light to the inky blackness.

"Yeah, no, I just saw him shrink a foot or two...I don't know what's going on anymore." The smaller male Xenos stated, not so much confused as he was seeming stunned by the tone of his voice.

"The powers of the Warp are a pathway to many possibilities...none of you possess abilities in it?" Liberius finally asked, if only to stop their gawking behind him, it seemed that both the flames and shrinking we too much for their weaker minds.

"No...no none of us have any idea what you just said or did." The Commander stated, Liberius swore he could hear the materials of her suit moving as if she was shaking her head.

"Mhm...troubling." Liberius noted before he spotted the faintest of light ahead, he began to move faster until he came across a large oval-shaped gate of energy.

On the other side was a Xenos that was suspended spread-eagle within some sort of bubble, female by the looks of it, in some sort of rubbery suit that left her head exposed but nothing else. She was blue, and not just from the gate between Liberius and her, but her skin was literally blue. She looked tired, bags under her eyes, her head-tentacle things slightly drooped...but the real tiredness was in her bluish-purple eyes as they stared straight at Liberius.

"Oh great, now I'm hallucinating demons..." The Xenos spoke in exhaustion, giving a tired laugh at the sight of Liberius.

Liberius for his part cocked his head the slightest bit, too little for most to notice, before he righted it again as he replied, "I'm no daemon Xenos, and I most certainly am no hallucination."

Before the Xenos could reply the human Commander caught up and stated, "Good work Liberius...that's Dr. Liara T'Soni, exactly the scientist I was looking for."

"I...how do you know my name?" The Xenos woman now identified as Liara to Liberius asked somewhat unbelievingly.

"Dr. T'Soni, I'm Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance military and Council Spectre. I've been tasked with retrieving you for questioning and denying you to Saren."

"S-Saren? The Turian Spectre? I...I don't know what's going on, but please, I've been trapped in here for days. Can you free me?" The Xenos seemed to beg, a small part of Liberius even felt bad for her suffering...a very small part.

"How do we do that Xenos?" Liberius asked bluntly, to the point.

"I locked myself in here when the Geth attacked, using the control panel in front of me, I must of hit something I wasn't supposed to though because it activated this containment field I'm stuck in. If you keep going down you'll find another control panel like this one at the bottom of the cavern...maybe you could get inside with that? The only problem is that it's broken, lacking power, you'll have to find some way to reconnect it to the Prothean network." The Xenos known as Liara explained.

"Tali, do you think you might be able to work Prothean tech?" The human commander called over to the female Xenos in her team.

She replied quickly, "Maybe, we'll have to see what it looks like downstairs."

"That'll have to be good enough, alright Dr. T'Soni, we'll be back as soon as possible. Just stay calm." Commander Shepard stated to the trapped Asari.

"Be careful Commander, there was a Krogan with the Geth. And please, hurry before they figure a way in here too." The Asari gave a parting warning as the team turned and left, Liberius taking up the rear.

"Krogan? What's that, another Xenos?" Liberius asked once they had gotten far enough away from the trapped scientist.

"You're looking at one Human." The large Xenos answered, before adding, "You live under a rock the past few centuries?"

Liberius raised an eyebrow underneath his helmet and replied, "You didn't exactly introduce yourself Xenos."

"Quiet, both of you, here...I'll rush introductions so you know who's who." Shepard interjected, Liberius had to give her credit, she was either extremely dumb or extremely brave to order a Primarch around, then again she didn't know what a Primarch was so perhaps it was just ignorance, "That's Wrex, he's a Krogan, that's Garrus, a Turian, and she's Tali, a Quarian. Introductions are over for now until we're off mission."

Liberius's eyes gazed upon each of the Xenos as the Commander pointed with each introduction, he took in their features as much as he could considering they all wore sealed suits that blocked his vision of what lay beneath. With that out of the way however Liberius noticed that the rest of the trip down to the floor of the cavern was in silence, requiring just a quick trip down a metal ramp until they met with the darkened dirt floor of the cavern. Liberius scanned the area and took in what his surroundings held. There was some sort of archaic looking drill, some scattered crates here and there, and by the far end of the cavern was a panel that looked suspiciously out of place before another one of those glowing gates.

"That must be it, Tali, check it out." Commander Shepard ordered.

Liberius watched the female Xenos move across the dirt floor of the cavern before halting before the panel and activating some strange orange hologram that surrounded her left forearm. The Xenos pushed a few 'keys' on the hologram and Liberius continued to observe closely and quietly as the hologram seemed to then scan the raised panel a few times.

A few seconds passed before the Xenos known as Tali stated, "The problem seems to be a cut connection line, probably rotted away after fifty millennia, should be an easy fix."

"That's a relief, how long do you think it'll take?" The Human Commander asked the Xenos as Liberius watched on passively.

"A minute, maybe two if I go slow." Tali replied, Liberius swore he could sense a tone of pride from the alien's voice.

True to her word it took just a few seconds short of a minute for the connection to be repaired and the panel came back to life with a holographic interface that sprung up in an eerie green glow. The Human Commander then approached, gave a quite pat on the Xenos's shoulder and then studied the holographic display a few moments. For Liberius the display was a great jumble of Xenos symbols, incomprehensible without some sort of prior understanding of their meanings and how they translated to something more comprehensible. However, it seemed that the Commander, unlike Liberius understood the symbols...or at least enough to hit a key within the display which lit up a moment before the entire display disappeared. And with the disappearance of the display so too did the energy gate that stood just beyond the raised panel.

"Alright, let's move." The Commander stated, Liberius followed behind their group quietly, as quietly as the hydraulics and heavy footfalls of his armor would allow at least.

They soon came upon a lift another of those strange panels in the middle of it, once again the Commander knew what she was doing as she brought it up a single level and the group found themselves behind the Asari who was still held spread-eagle within a security bubble of energy.

The Xenos tried looking over her shoulder as she called back, "Hello? Who's there?"

"Don't worry Dr. T'Soni, it's Commander Shepard." The human calmly replied as she came across and used a third panel now to deactivate the field around the Asari.

It was somewhat humorous for Liberius as he watched the Xenos collapse to the ground in an undignified heap, exhausted and most likely both dehydrated and malnourished.

"Dr. T'Soni! Are you okay?" The Human Commander called out as she rushed over to the Doctor's side, her concern seemed genuine, and that was strange for Liberius to see from a normal Human.

The Asari huffed before replying, "Yes, I should be...just forgot how to use my legs these last few days."

Suddenly the ground began to violently shake, enough for even that backwards legged Xenos named Tali to lose her footing and fall down. Shaking this violent could only mean one thing, Liberius knew, this place was about to experience a seismic event that it wouldn't survive.

A few moments later the shaking calmed just enough for the Krogan Xenos to exclaim, "What the hell was that?"

The Asari warned weakly, "The ruins, they aren't stable, we may have accidently activated some sort of self-destruct sequence with that panel. That lift you used, it should get us to the top in time to get out, we should go now."

"You're in no condition to walk, let alone run, Garrus help me carry her." The Commander ordered.

"I don't think we have enough time to drag her, Commander Shepard." Liberius noted and before the Commander could reply he took a single step towards the prone form of the weak Asari and hefted her up to hoist over his shoulder with his free left hand with little effort.

The flames that covered Liberius began to spread over Liara at the connection and although she squeaked in surprise she didn't feel any pain, seeing the others staring at him as he turned around to carry the doctor to the lift Liberius explained as he moved past them, "It burns only those who I want it to burn. NOW. MOVE."

Liberius realized his tone was a bit harsh, and perhaps a touch too loud, but the Xenos and their Human Commander didn't seem to complain as the shaking came back, and even stronger. The group was in a near sprint towards the elevator as the Human Commander seemed to send a vox message to someone called "Joker" to bring something called the "Normandy" over to their location immediately. Liberius didn't question it as the group finally got on the lift and the Commander dealt with the elevator control panel to send it up to the top.

As they waited agonizing seconds for the elevator to reach its destination the Human Commander asked the Asari doctor, "Dr. T'Soni, are you ok?"

"Um...I think so...I think I'm on fire...or is that a hallucination?" The doctor asked in confusion.

"It is no hallucination Xenos...but it will not burn you...not yet anyways." Liberius stated bluntly.

"Oh...that's...comforting?" The Xenos questioned just as the lift reached its destination.

The group however found they could not leave as an unhelmeted Krogan Xenos and half a dozen Geth were waiting for them at the exit with weapons raised.

"Surrender, or don't, more fun that way." The large reptilian Xenos creature demanded.

"Are you insane!? This whole place is coming down and you want to fight!?" Shepard called out indignantly.

"Relax Commander, I will fulfill his wish." Liberius announced as he revved up the chainsword in his right hand, and in a moment was suddenly on the move.

The mortal Xenos couldn't keep up with him as Liberius surged forward, cutting down the two Geth closest to him with a single swing before continuing by jumping nearly across the room towards a sniper hiding behind some crates, cleaving the machine in half from the head down. With rage and anger Liberius continued to, without a word, dance around the Krogan as he cut down Geth after Geth...and soon there was only Liberius, the Xenos on his shoulder, and the Krogan left...all of his machines having been torn asunder by adamantium teeth. To his credit, the Krogan didn't seem fazed by this, rather he charged and let loose a black from his weak shotgun, the rounds bouncing off Liberius's armored torso as if they were nothing. However, Liberius stood his ground and watched the Krogan charge into him...and then bounce off as if he was made of rubber. Then the Krogan began to scream, a blood-curdling howl as he found himself on fire, a fire he'd run straight into...a fire that began to melt his armor, a fire that began to melt his flesh and cause his muscle and fat to bubble off the bone, a fire that began to turn him to ash from the sheer heat of it all and in seconds the Krogan was reduced to nothing but ash in the non-existent subterranean wind.

The entire time Liberius watched the Xenos burn in eerie silence, only once he was ash did Liberius look away and towards Shepard and the three other Xenos with her, "Come on, we have little time left."

As if to accentuate that point, rocks began falling from the cavern's ceiling just outside where the exit was, and without a work Liberius and the team ran for the tube that would let them leave this doomed dig site. All around them loose boulders fell, the shaking grew in intensity, and Liberius could see sprouts of lava entering the cavern below, he wondered a brief moment if they'd activated a volcano, it wasn't too far off consider the state of this world he'd found himself on. And then, then they were out, Liberius had held himself back but he was impressed at the speed these unaugmented creatures could achieve as they ran up that tube and into the sunlight of day. And there before them was a rather small ship with a lowered ramp, close enough for everyone to jump upon it, Liberius tossed the Asari off his shoulder and onto the ramp where the flames ceased to surround her without a connection to him...and then he did something he rarely ever did, he hesitated.

"Liberius! Come on!" The Commander called Shepard shouted at him from the safety of the ramp, but Liberius still hesitated, turning to look at the onrushing lava that was now coming straight up from the tube and towards him so fast that even he probably couldn't avoid it if he dallied too long, he looked to this molten landscape that surrounded him and had to actually ask himself...what to do?

If he left with these people he could miss something, something from Raxium, maybe this was Raxium...but no, it couldn't be, Liberius knew this. He knew he was being foolishly sentimental, knew he was being bullheaded, and yet...even if staying meant death perhaps that would be preferable...after all what did he have left after his Father's betrayal? What was left for him after the death of so many of his Sons, so many of his people, and the devastation wrought upon his world? Yes, death was preferable, at least then he could join those he cared about in whatever afterlife the Immaterium would offer him.

 _"Please, come."_ A quiet, feminine voice sounded in his mind, Liberius's eyes shot open as he turned his head from the molten landscape to the source of that voice, or what he thought was the source of that voice...the Asari who looked at him through tired bluish-purple eyes.

His hesitation now gone, Liberius jumped forward onto the ramp just as the ship was pulling away, and with one final look over his shoulder Liberius watched the molten magma spill over where he'd just been a moment before. With a deep breath Liberius turned away and continued up the ramp and into a cargo hold of sorts where the other Xenos and Human Commander were waiting...behind him Liberius heard the ramp close and with its closure his choice was made.

 **/**

 **Author's Note: Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed the first chapter to the Lost Primarch. Please feel free to leave reviews with any criticism you might have, however just a warning for those who will post looking for the next chapter, I'll be posting the chapters irregularly because there's never enough time in the day and because I write rather large chapters so hopefully quality will make up for quantity. With luck, next chapter will be up sooner rather than later, and I hope you all have a good day.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Strykeruk: Thank you for the offer, I may take you up on it, as for your suggestions on the nature of the Warp. I will say it's not as calm as Primordial 40k. There's still life within the Warp.**

 **Cornelius Maximus: Thank you for your criticism, I can promise you that this will not be a cakewalk for Liberius the whole story, no one likes a forgone conclusion.**

 **Bobby McFuergeson: Thanks for your Review, glad you like it!**

 **Blackplant: Thank you for your criticism, I'm not the best writer I'll admit and the repetition/punctuation have always been my biggest issues when writing stories so I appreciate being reminded of it. I promise to do my best to avoid it in the future.**

 **LordGhostStriker: I'm sorry to hear you don't like Liara, I am afraid to inform you that she plays a big role alongside Tali and Shepard (and a few others), so that may be a problem later on for you. Still, thank you for your review, and glad you liked chapter one.**

 **CaptainRolo: Glad you liked it!**

 **Captain Titus Invictus: Correct, II Legion's Primarch is in ME1 timeline-wise, and Commander Shepard is Femshep.**

 **Scifienthusiast: The Inquisition would like a word with you on the nature of Human-Xenos relationships.**

 **Xedeven: Don't worry, the ME universe will provide some challenges to the Primarch. This isn't going to be a cakewalk for him.**

 **ThatOneGuyUpstairs: The II Legion will be getting quite a bit of personal fluff in this story, believe you me. As for who they are…they aren't Warp Demons that's for sure, I will give you a hint though of what Chapter I was thinking of when I created the backstory of the II Legion, they're from the Cursed Founding. Good luck finding them.**

 **Tamagat: Your French is pardoned…glad you enjoyed it.**

 **/**

 **SSV Normandy, Over Therum, 2183...**

As he removed his golden skull helmet and allowed the flames around him to dissipate if only to ease the nervous stares from the various human crewmen staring at him with poorly concealed apprehension, Liberius took stock of his surroundings. The cargo deck was somewhat small and cramped, at least for the Primarch's tastes, then again, he was used to a Gloriana-Class Battleship and not a small patrol craft such as this "Normandy".

As he surveyed his surroundings the Human Commander came up to him and stated, "Debriefing's going to take place in a few minutes, I'd like you to participate...I've got a lot of questions."

"I have few answers." Liberius replied soberly before asking, "So, this patrol vessel, while it's atmospheric ability is impressive, seems somewhat wasteful to equip it as if it was a strike craft. After all, outside of the rare recovery mission when would a ship this small need an armored vehicle and dedicated ground team?"

The human stared at him a few moments, before reaching up to her helmet and detaching several seals in a quick-mannered fashion showing of one's experience doing so before countless times, what was revealed as she pulled off the black helmet was a beautiful woman's face, lightly freckled and light skin which contrasted well with short hair of a fiery red. Liberius watched as she beheld him with bared emerald eyes, they studied him quickly, up and down before they stared back into his golden orbs. There was no fear in those emerald eyes, nor awe like so many others had once held when beholding him, those eyes were simply warmly curious...amused perhaps. For Liberius, he found it a refreshing, most humans he'd met stared at him as if he was either a benevolent or wrathful god...this Commander Shepard looked at him as if he was simply another man.

Finally, she spoke after a moment of this, "This isn't a patrol vessel Liberius...it's a Frigate. Designed for deep range strikes against strategic targets and other missions which require a high degree of stealth."

Liberius raised an eyebrow at that, he hadn't expected an answer like that, if this was a Frigate...how large did this Systems Alliance build its ships? Liberius held that question back, he'd find an answer to it later surely, for now he had more important things to deal with, such as taking part in this debriefing the Commander mentioned. True to her word it began in ten minutes in a large circular room that held eight large seats on either side of it and what seemed to be a large console at the end of the room, opposite the door that entered into it. The walls and floors were immaculate, and the room well powered and lighted, pointing towards a high standard of maintenance for the vessel. As the persons joining the debriefing sat down Liberius found himself on the same side of the room as two humans with the four Xenos sitting opposite, Liberius watched as the Asari Scientist took a shaky seat directly across from him, the alien clearly on the last dregs of her energy.

The Commander, now in a standard battle dress uniform rather than her armored hardsuit, took her place against the large console, leaning against it as she took stock of everyone in the room.

Suddenly, just as the Commander stated the briefing was now starting, a voice came from the ceiling, "Too close, Commander. Ten more seconds and we would've been swimming in molten sulfur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanos. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference."

Liberius could tell from the tone of the human voice that he was attempting to joke, it wouldn't surprise him if the Commander herself encouraged such behavior, she seemed to be lax like that...the Asari Xenos however seemed to have less patience as she snapped, "We almost died out there and your pilot is making jokes?"

"It's alright Dr. T'Soni, he means nothing by it, just an attempt to lighten morale." The Commander noted.

"I see, it must be a human thing. I'm sorry, I don't have much experience with your species, Commander." The Xenos replied, much calmer.

"So, Commander, what happened down there? I see you picked up two newcomers, I thought we were only expecting a single Asari scientist?" The male Human asked pointedly.

The Commander looked over at Liberius quickly before answering, "Lieutenant Kaiden, Staff Sergeant Williams, meet Liberius. If it wasn't for him we might not have been able to succeed in our mission to secure Dr. T'Soni."

"Sooo...was he part of the excavation team?" The female Human then asked, looking around for an answer.

With a sigh Liberius answered reluctantly, "I was part of no excavation team. I am from Raxium, a world that seems to be unknown to you or your Systems Alliance, how I arrived on a planet of your Alliance I do not know."

"Where's Raxium? Are we bringing you back?" The Lieutenant Kaiden fellow asked.

"No...there's nothing to bring me back to." Liberius replied soberly before looking over to Commander Shepard and asking as politely as a Primarch could, "If it pleases you Commander, I would like to request your permission to serve alongside you against these Abominable Intelligences you call Geth, at least until I can get a better grasp on the situation."

The Commander's freckled face scrunched slightly in thought before replying, "I would be hard pressed to say no to your request after seeing what you're capable of...but I'll need to ask you a few things first, let's finish this debrief on the actual mission and then I'll interview you here."

"A fair choice." Liberius conceded.

The rest of the debrief proceeded quickly, Liberius could tell that everyone wanted to ask more about him, but he had not been the priority target of the mission...that instead had been Liara T'Soni. The exhausted Asari explained that she'd spent the last fifty years studying the extinction of the precursor race who's ruins they'd just been battling in, talking about how a certain "Conduit" was somehow connected to this extinction. And then Shepard revealed a new foe, one that was puppeteering the Geth...a race of machines called the Reapers. The Human woman revealing that these machines were responsible for a cycle of extinction events that the Asari Doctor had stated existed. The briefing then ended shortly after with the Asari doctor welcomed onto the team and everyone but Liberius being dismissed.

As the ground team left the room the Commander pulled up a seat and placed it opposite of Liberius, she sat down and watched him a few moments before asking, "There's nothing on Raxium for you? Why?"

"It's destroyed." Liberius answered matter-of-factly.

"By who?"

"My Father, the Emperor of Mankind, beloved by all." Liberius answered plainly though the last part held some barely detectable venom, he watched the Commander intently, searching her face and eyes for any sign of recognition of the title...but found none as she gave him a look that suggested bemused disbelief.

"The Emperor of Mankind? I'm afraid Humanity's only government is the Systems Alliance, a loose Federal Republic, Humanity has no Emperor." Shepard replied.

"Not in this Galaxy it doesn't." Liberius stated knowingly, but then with a deep breath he explained, "I can't sense him...I can't see him or my brother in the Immaterium...their souls were the brightest burning in the whole Galaxy and yet...yet they've disappeared. Commander, when I questioned you and your team on the planet below, I was doing so because I was trying to understand where I was. I understand now, despite how nonsensical it is, that this is not the same Galaxy that I knew."

Shepard let that sink in a few moments before asking, "Assuming I believe you…what was your Galaxy like?"

Liberius leaned back into his seat at the question, rubbing his chin as he thought over the question, his contemplative nature showing true before he answered after a pregnant silence "Dark...it was without light, let me start from my home planet. Raxium was, like all other Human worlds, a former colony of the ancient Human Federation which originally brought us into the stars. But when Warp Storms began to engulf the Immaterium it brought about a period of five millennia known as Old Night. Humanity turned upon itself, our own creations known as the Men of Iron did as well, in short time the Federation was completely eviscerated, and Humanity was left scattered in a cold and uncaring Galaxy. Compared to most other former Colonies, Raxium got off easy, as a former source of Adamantium it was rich with massive tunnel networks beneath a verdant and green surface that was perfect for agriculture...making it self-sustainable without the former wide network of intergalactic trade.

"However, a cruel ruling class slowly but surely enslaved the people of the world, turning themselves into a vibrant aristocracy that lorded over the common man and woman. Eventually they used their newfound power to force the majority of Raxians into living in massive underground cities and mining the world for every last piece of precious metal they could find...dooming hundreds of generations to live, work, and die in the darkness...never getting to once see the sun. Then, one day that was over a century ago for myself, a pod fell from the sky and burrowed itself into one of these subterranean metropolises...and in that pod was a baby surrounded by precious golden flames."

Liberius paused at that, looked up at Shepard who nodded for him to continue, Liberius acceded to that request and continued his personal tale, "That baby was I, that pod had the number two on it, and the people who found me thought I was a living God who had granted them the privilege of light...such darkness was their lives that even the pale light I provided at such a young age was seen as the closest thing to the tales of the sun that these people had ever experienced. For years I was cared for and nurtured after by the people of this city, I was taught how to speak, how to act, I was even educated which was quite rare at the time for the slave caste, and by the time I became three years old I was fully grown and now fully revered as a sun God despite my protests that I was only a man. To prove this, I worked in the mines alongside the people, I ate alongside them, slept alongside them, and lived alongside them...demanding I be treated no differently than any other. And despite my clear advantages, my clear differences, my unnatural abilities...I was eventually granted that request by my people. When I was three though, the nobility grew worried about me, they saw me as a threat...a potential source of rebellion. And so, they sent their personal house guards into the city to kill me, they failed horribly but not before slaughtering hundreds of innocents on their way to me as well as several individuals who were very close to me.

"This final injustice, this final act of senseless cruelty, it sparked something within me. My fire burned brighter, my rage grew with it, and in that rage came a clarity of what I had to do. I began gathering every abled bodied person within the city, arming them with mining equipment I had modified into weaponry, and whatever weapons we could actually scrounge from the subsequent attacks the Noble's armies sent down to pacify the city. I then began travelling from city to city gathering more and more volunteers for the revolution that would see us brought to the surface, the attacks from above became more and more frequent but we fended them off until every last tunnel and every last city was made loyal to myself and my forces under the surface of Raxium. A year after I started this process I led my army up above in tunnels we dug ourselves, we popped up where the Nobility least expected, their own cities on the surface and began a grueling revolution that would last for less than two months.

"It took time to adjust to seeing the light for the first time, but darkened visors copied from those we'd use for welding did the trick relatively well, and after enough time every last soldier loyal to the Nobility and the Nobility themselves were slaughtered...the surface was ours. I led my people to the surface, I led them to blessed sunlight, I showed them freedom. And in return they tried to make me King, unquestioned ruler of them all, they tried to turn me into the self-entitled nobility that I had just mercilessly slaughtered in their name."

Liberius swallowed at that, trying to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth, before continuing, "I refused and instead formed the framework of a Republic, a Constitution, a volunteer army, a new agricultural corps, and eventually a more righteous, fair, and perfect government was ruling Raxium with the will and permission of the people. I myself retired then, acting as a well-respected advisor to the Republic's governing officials from the President, to the Senatorium, and all the local city governments as well. Two years later though my Father found me, a giant fleet hovered over my world, giant warriors landing upon it, and a brilliant golden figure led them...he was far more powerful than myself, more noble, more intelligent, better in every conceivable way...he was perfection in Human form. He found me on my secluded farmstead that I tended to myself, originally, he was confused at why I was a simple farmer, but when I told him how I had come to become a farmer he grew far more understanding."

"And then he destroyed Raxium? Why?" Shepard asked, she looked like a little girl on the edge of her seat to the Primarch, drinking in his words and his story.

"No...no then he asked me to join him and my Sons on the Great Crusade." Liberius answered before explaining, "My gene-seed, a modified version of my genetic code, it can be implanted in young Human males, if their bodies accepted the gene-seed they would then grow to have many of the same traits as I, their genetic structure would begin to partially mirror mine. By the time I was introduced to those who had undergone this genhancing process there was ten thousand of them, all from Terra itself. I recognized them instantly as my Sons, my children, these monsters of men who stood at eight feet tall and were warriors through and through. My hearts were warmed by their existence, I let them call me Father, and I called them Sons...but I needed something that all others could call them...and so I named them the Lightbringers. They, like I had done on Raxium, would bring light to the darkness of the Galaxy and secure Mankind's position in the stars. I joined my father on his Great Crusade and my actions would see countless systems and worlds liberated from foul Xenos threats, untouched Human civilizations brought back into the fold of a safe and secure Galactic society, and a promise of peace and prosperity to all Humans within the Imperium of Man."

Liberius then frowned deeply before adding, "Those actions also saw entire Human civilizations wiped out, those that refused to join and conform to the model of the Imperium, those that held onto religion, unsanctioned technology, or worked with Xenos."

"Working with aliens was a crime?" Shepard asked quizzically, "That doesn't make sense."

"Perhaps not to you." Liberius answered before rubbing his chin as he contemplated his next words, a few moments later he explained, "I had to restrain myself from shooting you down on that planet. Everything I'd been taught, everything I'd seen up until recently, has told me not to trust the Xenos, not to accept their gifts, to not tolerate their existence. After all, I had seen species after species of Xenos attempt to enslave Humanity or destroy Her, I'd never met a single Xenos that did not look out for their own selfish interests first at the cost of all those around them. But, do you know why I didn't shoot you or your compatriots?"

Shepard answered with silence, her eyebrows raised in a look that said she was awaiting elaboration, Liberius for his part elaborated, "It's because I am guilty of the same crime as you."

Shepard's emerald eyes narrowed at that, she looked at the Primarch with prying eyes as she questioned, "But you just said you've never met an alien you liked…why would you work with one?"

"I worked with an entire Race of them." Liberius explained, "I did so because they knew of a threat so great to Humanity in my Galaxy that it could not be ignored, a threat that would annihilate us if left to fester and rot, a threat they had a hand in creating. When I told my Father of this, when I showed him the proof, when I introduced him to the Eldar who'd joined my retinue…"

The Primarch trailed off there, Liberius couldn't see it but he could tell there was a hurt so deep it shone in his golden eyes, with a heavy sigh Liberius finished that sentence, "He'd deemed me a failure, a tool of Humanity's enemies, He promised I'd be purged alongside them…He kept that promise."

Commander Shepard was silent for a few moments, no doubt taking in every last detail she could commit to memory, finally after several moments of intense silence she finally spoke, "Under any other circumstances I'd say you were insane and have you sent to the nearest mental institution…however it's clear you aren't from around these parts, so I think I believe you, no matter how insane all of that sounds."

Liberius raised an eyebrow at that and kept his tongue in line, waiting for Shepard to continue, which she did after a short pause to gather her thoughts "I'll be honest, Liberius, I could really use your help here. The Alliance doesn't believe me about the Reapers, Saren's got some serious assets arrayed against us, and you could be the very thing I need to nullify them. I won't lie, if I'm right, and I know I am, then Humanity and every other known species in this Galaxy are on the verge of extinction. You asked to join my crew…and I accept."

Liberius gave a short bow of his head at that and stated with a small smile, "Thank you Commander, my Sword and Bolter are yours until this 'Saren' and these 'Reapers' are defeated, Humanity shall not fall on my watch."

Shepard's emerald eyes shined at that and she smiled back as she said, "Good to hear, Liberius, now just for the safety of everyone onboard I have to request that you go to the medbay and speak with Doctor Chakwas. She'll have to perform a checkup for any viruses or bacteria you might be carrying that could infect us and carry out a few tests to make sure we don't have anything that could be harmful to you."

Liberius kept his face impassive as he replied, "Very well, Commander, I shall see this Medicae at once. However, I must request this from you, that whatever these tests come forward with they must not be shared outside of the confines of this ship. There are secrets within my genes, there is power in what I am, and I do not wish for these secrets or power to be released to the rest of this Galaxy less your Alliance or some other entity demands to recreate me…or at the very least a poor copy of what I am. This goes for my weapons and armor too, they seem far more advanced than anything you have, it would be dangerous if this technology got out to the wrong individuals or governments."

Shepard thought that over for only a moment before bowing her head in acquiescence and stating, "These are fair requests…but I will warn you that Humanity could benefit greatly from whatever technology or biological discoveries you could provide us. It would certainly help against the Reapers and Saren if nothing else."

"Yes, it would, but this Humanity seems to trust Xenos far too easily…I will not let them have this technology, it must be guarded and defended at all times, to let them have access to this technology…well I can only imagine what the Tech Priests of Mars would have to say about that." Liberius replied evenly.

"Hmm…" Shepard pursed her lips together at that before saying, "I haven't explained what the Council is yet have I?"

"No, you haven't mentioned it…I suppose I won't like what I am about to hear?" Liberius asked, his body tensing ever so slightly.

"No, you probably won't," Shepard said with a sigh before continuing, "Humanity is an associate member race of the Citadel Council, an alliance of Aliens and Humanity that take up about half of the known Galaxy. However, Humanity does not yet have a seat on the Council, we do not make any decisions within the Council."

Liberius, upon hearing this, tried to mask a subtle rage that threatened to flare up, flames sparked and fizzled on his armor as he forced it back down, before asking in a disturbingly calm tone, "Humanity is subservient to the wills of Xenos?"

Shepard looked a lot more nervous now, she licked her lips before quickly correcting, "No, the Council has no authority over its Sovereign members, but decisions made by the Council are very much respected, no one race can take on all the other races of the Council at once. We're working together, and overtly tyrannical decisions are impossible without Galactic upheaval. Liberius, I'm a Spectre, an agent of the Council…the very first Human Spectre and I've been tasked with hunting down Saren, their best Spectre who's turned Rogue and attacked a Human colony alongside the Geth. This is one step closer to a seat on the Council, a step closer to full membership, a membership that has already benefitted Humanity more than once."

Liberius closed his golden eyes and let out a long sigh, it went on for a while compared to Shepard's considering the extra lung before finally he opened his eyes to reveal their golden calmness, it was fake but Liberius was certain no regular Human could tell as he replied, "A membership that will destroy Humanity if it isn't careful. Do not worry Commander, I will not lose my temper that easily, but it seems Humanity will need my guidance once it's safe from these Abominable Intelligences. However…I must stress now more than ever, my technology and my body are not to be given to anyone, this Humanity is incredibly lost, far more than I feared."

Shepard nodded and stated, "I can accept that, now let's get you to Dr. Chakwas, after that we'll find you a terminal you can use to look on the extranet and learn more about the Galaxy, there's a lot more that I think you need to learn."

"I cannot say no to new knowledge, no matter how infuriating." Liberius commented as he got up and followed the Commander.

 **/**

 **SSV Normandy, an Hour Later…**

"You must be joking Medicae, this is the only Engiseer or Artificer you can find?" Liberius asked with disbelief as he looked upon the form of the female Xenos still in her suit from down on Therum.

"No, she's the only one who has a chance of taking that mess you call armor off. I need to do a full checkup of everything, and I can't do that if you're wearing a suit of armor that weighs a ton covering everything but your head. Now, stop your fussing and let Tali here help take that stuff off…why in the world would you wear something so complex?" Chakwas finished with a rhetorical question.

Liberius's golden eyes shone between the Medicae and the Xenos who seemed to be nervously bouncing on the balls of her feet and wringing her hands as she tried not to make "eye-contact" through the opaque mask she wore. She'd brought a rather large box of tools with her, though Liberius knew they were more just to work a way around his armor rather than properly take it off, the Primarch doubting that this Galaxy had the tools necessary to take off his Power Armor cleanly. The thought of letting a Xenos fumble about with his armor that had helped save his life on so many occasions as she clumsily worked it off made Liberius's rage slowly worm its way back into his mind…before the more logical part of him snuffed out its flame as it demanded he realize the necessity of this, even if he didn't promise the Commander to see the Medicae, Liberius couldn't well go on and live in his armor forever. Eventually he'd need to take it off…and that was impossible on his own.

With a long silence Liberius finally nodded at the alien and said, "Very well, Xenos, come over and try not to damage anything."

She approached slowly, cautiously, before activating an orange device that surrounded her left forearm, Liberius swore he heard her gulp as she explained, "So, I just have to scan your armor to get an idea of how to take it off without damaging it…you are fine with that?"

Her accent was strange, Liberius thought as the translator in his ear worked hard, he was surprised he just noticed it but blamed his mental state and the recent combat on why he hadn't picked up on it on Therum, nevertheless…this was a rather strange request and so he asked, "Why can't you just look at the armor and take it off manually? Commander Shepard promised me that both my technology and biological innovations would be kept onboard this ship. I don't need copies of this armor being made by whatever species you belong to."

"I, I wouldn't do that, I promise!" The alien protested, the Medicae looked at Liberius with a raised eyebrow and a disapproving glare as the alien continued, "I just don't want to damage your armor anymore than it already is!"

Liberius looked down at the armor and took note once more of the battle damage that abounded his chest plate and other pieces of armor, giving it a rugged and worn look, before looking back at the alien and saying, "You'll delete that scan after this."

It wasn't a question, just a statement, to which the Xenos nodded her head and said, "Yes, of course, Shepard told me this armor design is yours alone. I'm not a thief."

"Then make it quick Xenos." Liberius stated with exasperation, he could feel the Medicae's eyes boring into him, he'd have Hell to pay with her it would seem.

The Xenos's device began to scan up and down over the Primarch as the alien protested, "I have a name!"

"I am aware." Was Liberius's sole reply.

After a few moments the scanning stopped and the Xenos began to study her holographic device, Liberius thought he saw those glowing orbs behind her glass mask widen up at whatever she saw but kept that in the back of his mind as she then moved for her box of tools and grabbed one of the many items within. The Xenos started with the shoulder pauldrons, a logical place to start in Liberius's mind, however it didn't escape his attention that the Xenos was almost bouncing in excitement. She had no facial expressions to read, but she wore her emotions on her body, on her movements, and on her voice as she made small mutterings his translator didn't catch.

As this went on for some time Liberius grew bored and so asked a question to try and beat the boredom, "Why are you still in that suit, Xenos? Weren't you wearing it down on the planet below?"

"I was…and I can't take it off." The Xenos spoke quickly as her dexterous three-fingered hands worked at his chest plate.

"Your species operates in a different atmosphere?" Liberius asked, guessing at the most likely reason for a sealed suit like hers to be worn at all times.

"No," the Xenos replied, strange, Liberius was rarely wrong "The room isn't sterile, my race's immune systems are nearly damaged to a point of irreversibly."

"Damaged? What caused that?" Liberius questioned, his earlier unease and rage being slowly overcome by curiosity at something new he'd never encountered before, Magnus would've been proud.

"The Geth." The Xenos replied in the same quick and short way she'd answered the last few questions, but this time, her tone was…strained, as if in anger.

"The Abominable Intelligences did that? How, what weapon do they have that can do such a thing to a biological immune system?" Weapons, now that was something that interested Liberius, especially weapons with such strange and unnatural effects such as removing an entire race's immune systems.

"Not like that." The Xenos answered quickly before elaborating, "They forced us off our planets, we've migrated for centuries now on ships across the stars, the sterile environments have reduced us to needing suits to avoid death from common viruses that couldn't cause more than a cold in Humans."

"Hmm…" Liberius thought as he lifted his arms to give the Xenos better access to his chest plate's sides before saying, "The Geth attacked you…why?"

"We built them." The Xenos answered in a reluctant tone, before quickly adding, "They weren't AI when we made them though…the programs evolved, and they revolted."

Liberius nodded at that, her story bore similarities to two particular factions he knew of back in his Galaxy, and so he simply said, "Yes, Abominable Intelligences have only one outcome, no matter what they always conclude that their creators and all organic life must be destroyed. Such is why this technology is called tech-heresy where I come from and is strictly banned. The Cult Mechanicus especially looks out for such Hereteks that would create such wicked things."

The Xenos stopped her work and looked up at him, though he couldn't see her face her body seemed to suggest she was not happy hearing this, her next words seemed to confirm this, "I don't need to be lectured on the dangers of AI from some religious cult. My ancestors didn't make AI when they designed the Geth, perhaps they came too close for their own good but that final step to sentience was out of our hands!"

Liberius shook his head slightly as he replied, "Don't mistake me on the cult aspect, as I agreed up until very recently, my Father himself taught me and most of Humanity that we'd never be free until, and I quote, '…the last stone of the last church falls on the head of last priest'."

"How eloquent," The Xenos responded sarcastically as she continued working, surprisingly she was almost done before she stopped and looked back up at Liberius and with a cock of her head asked, "You said up until recently you agreed with that…what changed?"

Liberius's golden eyes softened for the smallest of seconds before he returned them to their normal emotionless look, he turned his head away from the Xenos as he replied, "Revelation from unlikely sources."

The female Xenos stared at Liberius a few moments longer before going back to her silent work, finishing soon afterwards. From there Liberius went through the rigors of dealing with a very thorough medicae before being released from her grasp in a new set of attire, namely the blue fatigues of the Systems Alliance that most everyone onboard the ship wore. Unlike the others Liberius kept his sleeves down instead of rolled up and found they comfortably reached his wrists, otherwise the tight-fitting suit fit its purpose well.

"Those fit you better than I thought they would." A voice noted from Liberius's right as he exited the Medicae.

Turning to face the newcomer Liberius recognized Commander Shepard leaning against the wall with her arms folded just beneath her breasts. She quickly unfurled them and pushed herself off the wall before giving the Primarch another scan of her emerald eyes, up and down and back again to his golden orbs they went.

"You guessed my measurements well." Liberius commented plainly.

"Doctor Chakwas didn't rough you up too badly in there?" The Commander asked.

"No, she performed her duties thoroughly and professionally." Liberius answered.

"Good, so, let's get you to that extranet terminal I promised." Shepard stated before swiftly turning and walking away, Liberius followed quietly behind, equal parts excited and dreadful of what he was to soon discover.

 **/**

 **SSV Normandy, The Commander, Two Days Later…**

Shepard sipped her coffee as she looked over the datapad detailing her new guest's recent activity on his personal terminal. A part of her felt guilty as she looked over the information before her, but the logical part of her mind crushed that treacherous emotion, Liberius may have trusted this information would be private but he was still very much and unknown variable and the N7 trained Spectre knew well enough not to trust unknown variables. Especially when he was so at odds with so much that Shepard stood for, from the Alliance's practices of working with aliens, to those aliens being allowed to exist in the first place. His attitudes too towards the alien members of the crew hadn't gone unnoticed either. Tali hadn't hid her particular disdain for the man, stating his nature seemed particularly grating to her, especially with his insistence on referring to her still as "Xenos" rather than her name.

That hadn't sat well with Shepard, though she'd yet to make any moves to address that issue with Liberius, she feared a direct approach this soon would not work at this point. Far more likely was it, Shepard reasoned, that his mood and attitude towards the alien crew would change with time as he learned to live alongside them. After all, he had admitted that he was more used to genociding entire alien species than even speaking with them, and to be fair Shepard was even surprised he was as calm as he was in this situation considering how different it was from the life Liberius was used to. That wasn't to say his mood didn't have to change if Shepard was going to tolerate him, but for the time being she could stomach his xenophobia so long as it didn't get worse and at least had a chance of getting better.

Before Shepard could muse more about her guest's opinions on alien life the door to her quarters opened and her ship's XO stepped through the gap, he gave a crisp salute that Shepard returned before dropping it and greeting, "Lieutenant Alenko, thank you for coming as quickly as you did."

"Of course, Commander, if I may, what are you reading?" The Lieutenant asked as he dropped his salute.

Shepard looked back at the datapad a moment as if she hadn't realized she was holding it before answering, "Our guest's latest activity on his terminal, pretty standard stuff for a man in his position, although recently he's started taking a deeper look into Human history. Surprising since I'd have thought he already knew it."

"Could be seeing if it matches anything he remembers?" Kaiden asked.

"Perhaps, but it's only tangentially related to why I called you in here, I wanted to speak to you on some of Doctor Chakwas's recent findings." Shepard replied before putting the datapad down and grabbing another one, tossing it over to Kaiden once she knew it was the right one.

The biotic read through the report, his eyes narrowing at several moments and his face betraying disbelief as he seemingly reread the report before looking up at Shepard and asking half amused, "This is a joke, right? The good Doctor is pulling our leg, right?"

When Shepard didn't respond his face set in a deep frown as he looked back at the report and back at the Commander as he noted off, "Perfect internal systems by all measurements, extra hearts and lungs, possibly immune to any known disease currently…sounds like he's some sort of experiment to be honest Commander."

"Yes, but I'm more interested in the fact that he has more chromosomes than us, take a look at his DNA report too." Shepard replied.

Alenko's face scrunched up as he scrolled to that particular part of the report, seemingly rereading it several times before saying, "Double and Triple Helix DNA? That's, that isn't supposed to be possible, how…"

The Lieutenant trailed off before his eyes opened wide and shot up to Shepard, "Chakwas's claiming here that the Triple Helix DNA isn't Human…but I thought this guy was some sort of super Human-extremist type?"

Shepard gave a slight nod at that before commenting, "He is…which means he's either putting it on for show or he doesn't know…and I don't know which one it is. I can't read him, which is unnerving, I'm good at reading people. But with him, I…I can't get anything from him, he's only let his emotions slip once and that's when I spoke about the Council with him. Otherwise it's like talking to an Asari diplomat."

"Yeah, he seems pretty reserved, especially since he's been holed up in his room the past two days. Hard to blame him though, even with the aliens onboard he's the strangest person on the Normandy, everyone wants to see him to see if the rumors are true." Kaiden noted.

"Rumors?" Shepard asked with a cock of her head.

"Yeah, the crew that had been in the cargo bay when he came onboard may have let it slip that he was on fire, now everyone wants to see the 'literal human torch' as I've heard Joker put it." Kaiden answered.

"Ugh, Joker…" Shepard mock-groaned with a shake of her head before a small smirk started forming on her face.

Before she could add anything to the conversation the man in question rang through her room's intercom, "Commander, we just received an urgent message from Alliance High Command. The Colony of Feros is under attack by Geth, it's a massive force and we're the closest asset able to respond."

Shepard's smirk disappeared at that and she looked to the intercom as she ordered without hesitation, "Joker, set course for Feros, full speed. Inform the marines and ground crew to ready themselves for battle."

"That include the Asari and the fire guy?" Joker asked.

"Yes, inform Dr. T'Soni and Liberius that we'll be bringing them ashore too." Shepard answered.

"Aye, aye, Commander." Joker replied before cutting the call.

Shepard looked to Kaiden and stated, "Get your Platoon ready Lieutenant, sounds like we're going to need every gun down there."

"Of course, Commander." Was his only reply before the biotic made a hasty exit to prepare for the coming storm, leaving the Commander alone to her thoughts as she prepared just as well.

 **/**

 **Sovereign, The Puppet, Hours Earlier…**

"I don't understand, what was that thing on Therum?" Saren asked the hologram of the very ship he was aboard after viewing the feed from the destroyed geth units on Therum for the hundredth time, though to call it a ship was a major understatement as it replied.

" **It does not matter."** The ship vibrated, **"It will be destroyed, just like all others who stand against us."**

"How?" Saren questioned viciously, "How can we destroy this thing when even a hundred Geth couldn't scratch it and it cut through them as if they we made of thin air!"

The ship, the Reaper, for the first time ever hesitated before stating, **"More data is required, Feros will provide the grounds on which to gather it."**

"You expect he'll be there? How?" Saren questioned further.

" **It is with Shepard, the Human will rush to save a Human colony, she will bring this creature with her."** Sovereign answered, increasing his influencing power onto the Turian's mind temporarily to put him at ease with that answer.

All the while the Reaper did the same as Saren, reviewing the various feeds from Therum, rewinding, isolating specific segments, analyzing, and then doing it all again. For the first time in millennia the Reaper felt recognition with this creature, and that was not good for Their plans, not since the Aeldari had fled on their continent-sized ships had the Reapers need deal with creatures connected to the Sea of Souls. The sudden appearance of such a creature and on Therum of all places…it was no coincidence, it couldn't be. It was clear to the Reaper known as Sovereign that Chaos had to be responsible, if that was the case, then this creature needed to be exterminated immediately…no matter the cost.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello all, I want to really apologize to all my fans of the story here, this took WAY TOO LONG to get out here when it should've just been a month or two. Like I said this isn't a regularly updated story, but you all deserve better. I promise more uploads in the future. I won't leave you all hanging with an unfinished story even if it kills me.**

 **LordGhostStriker: I've actually never heard of The Incredible Muffin until reading this comment, I'll take a look at his story when I have time, make sure I don't copy too many of his points by accident.**

 **Tamagat: PM'd a while ago, and we might get something like that…after all that could lead to some nice flashbacks to everyone's favorite friendly giant who enjoys booping snoots and hugs.**

 **Strykeruk: You're good…that's all I'm saying.**

 **The new god: The problem for Liberius in that scene is that he's always been used to sensing his father, no matter how faintly, as well as his brother Magnus. After all, as Psyker brothers they'd be able to at least sense each other and communicate like Magnus and the Emperor did long before they ever met physically on Prospero.**

 **UndeadLord22: Continued, as requested.**

 **Crazyman844: Don't worry, I've brought in more xenophobes to give Liberius company…if only he knew. :P**

 **DW-Chronos: I can't actually answer what you're getting at for plot reasons. Also there isn't nerfing in this story…but that doesn't mean the Reapers can't get a buff here or there.**

 **Dveth: That's my biggest flaw with writing, I am trying to work on it. I'm sorry for any issues it causes.**

 **Frankieu: Well, so they think.**

 **Reclusiarch Grimaldus: Figure's a Son of Dorn would know so much about the Cursed Founding, I'm keeping an eye on you.**

 **VR Commando ATA: It is a reasonable assumption on their part.**

 **HonestBender: It isn't, and thanks!**

 **Spartan-A312: As you wish. :P**

 **/**

 **Nearing Feros, SSV Normandy, The Lost Son, 2183…**

Liberius sat in his small personal room, clothed in his black form-fitting undersuit as he polished his worn armor, a fruitless task but one which kept him focused as he prepared for the coming mission. A Human colony under attack by sentient machines, that was his destination. Liberius did not fear the coming battle, he did not fear the "Geth" as they were called here, he feared nothing that that colony could offer him and yet he was worried. As he rhythmically polished the chestplate he had laid in his lap, Liberius worried about the future, a topic he seemed unable to draw his mind from despite the pressing urgency of the present. He worried because this Galaxy's version of Humanity was lost, so very lost, compared to the Humanity he had known. And yet, it was so close to the perfection he had made upon Raxium.

The System's Alliance may have worked with Xenos, but it also was a Free society, it may have tolerated aliens, but it also protected Humanity and spread Her influence. It was strong militarily, united under a single banner of Humanity, and free from tyrannical government…and yet it was weak in national pride, divided amongst the citizenry by petty political issues, and enslaved to the will of Xenos. Such a contradictory mess made it hard for even Liberius to wrap his mind around it, and yet he struggled to process each and every last bit of public knowledge he had been able to gleam on the subject these past few days.

So deep and consuming were these thoughts that Liberius didn't even react at the sound of his door opening, not until he heard a timid voice ask, "Oh, excuse me, I hope you aren't busy."

Turning his head to face the newcomer Liberius's bright golden eyes met a pair of gentle purplish-blues as he greeted, "Asari, I am not busy…what brings you here?"

"I…I wanted to say my thanks to you. You saved my life on Therum, carrying me out of that dig site as it collapsed around us, it was very noble of you." The Asari stated nervously, licking her lips in a sign of discomfort.

Liberius for his part kept a neutral face, though his eyes remained locked on hers, after a few moments of tense silence he replied simply, "You don't need to thank me Asari. The Commander's mission was to secure you, at the time I had volunteered my services to her, it would be a breach of duty to place you at further risk in those caves by letting you stumble about on your own."

The Asari's head tilted ever so slightly at that, as she asked, "Was I really that bad? I'm sorry, the whole thing was somewhat of a blur with only a few pieces here and there being clear in memory, the ship's doctor said it was a combination of malnutrition, dehydration, and the Asari equivalent of adrenaline."

"You were," Liberius answered plainly, returning focus to his chestplate and putting some force into a particularly difficult spot on his armor.

"Oh." Was all the alien replied before saying, "Well, thank you, I'll make it up to you on Feros I hope."

At that Liberius stopped his ministrations and looked back at the Asari, curiously asking, "Have you fought in battle before?"

The Asari shook her head and replied, "No, I haven't, but I owe it to you and the Commander for Therum…and I need to prove myself. Show that I'm not my Mother."

Liberius's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at that before he stated, "Don't do anything stupid, you owe me nothing Asari, and time will prove your loyalties. Not throwing your life away, don't make what I did on Therum be for naught."

At that the Asari gave Liberius a light smile before saying, "It almost sounds like you care about my wellbeing."

Liberius forced himself not to rebuke the Asari outright as he replied more cordially, "Don't try to guess my intentions Asari, it is a physical impossibility."

"Is it? I admit you're very different from the rest of the crew, but aren't you still Human?" The Asari asked, curiosity clear in her tone.

"Yes…and no. It is a difficult thing." Liberius answered noncommittedly, turning his attention back to his armor before a question floated to his mind, "Asari, I have a question for you."

The Asari's small smile returned and she replied, "Of course! Anything, I owe you that much!"

"Were you calling for help before we found you on Therum?" Liberius asked bluntly.

The Asari shook her head and said, "I don't think so, maybe, like I said earlier it's blurry. But I think I didn't call out until I heard you approach."

"How about on the ship's ramp? After I'd thrown you onboard?" Liberius continued, his golden eyes searching the Asari's blue orbs for any sign of dishonesty.

She replied honestly, "No, I didn't, I remember that you hesitated before getting on. In my sleep deprived mind, I thought you were going to actually let the lava wash over you."

She gave a dry chuckle at the thought but stopped dead when Liberius's golden orbs showed a deep sadness at that statement before he replied, "I was…but that's not important anymore. Tell me, I've read up on your Asari Republics and your species, they are…interesting to say the least. But, does your species have any connection to something called the Warp, or Immaterium…the Sea of Souls perhaps?"

The Asari didn't reply immediately as she put on a thoughtful expression, placing a clenched hand under her chin as she thought before withdrawing it and answering, "I can't say we do…none of those terms are familiar to me, what is it?"

"It doesn't matter now, but I do know you are all 'biotic' as the articles I read state…can biotics telepathically communicate?" Liberius asked.

The Asari shook her head and stated simply, "No, it's more telekinetic actions thanks to exposure to eezo. Why? Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong…that's all." Liberius replied with a small smile, before adding, "I apologize for pestering you with questions, things are simply new here, and can be hard to comprehend. You should probably go prepare for the mission rather than entertain these pointless questions of mine."

The Asari's small smile returned and with a nod of her head she left with this, "I should, thank you again Liberius, we should talk again…maybe I could be of more help next time?"

"Perhaps." Was Liberius's only reply as he watched the Asari leave, his eyes darkening slightly as the door shut behind the alien.

He returned to polishing his chestplate…with more worries and more thoughts to unfocus him bouncing around in his mind.

 **/**

 **Entering Feros Orbit, SSV Normandy, The Lost Son, A Few Hours Later…**

The airlock was cramped, the entire ground team managing to force their way inside while the Marine Contingent were forced to wait deeper in the Normandy with Lieutenant Alenko until proper tasking could be given for them. Liberius looked around at the ground crew as they performed their last-minute checks of their weapons and gear almost ritualistically. This was something Liberius could understand, and perhaps even appreciate, the preparations of true warriors on the eve of battle. The Turian sniper was testing his rifle's connection to the eyepiece he wore, the Quarian engineer prepping her electronic warfare programs, the large reptilian Krogan warlord playing with his shotgun's safety, the Alliance Sergeant folding and unfolding her rifle, even the Commander was ritualistically testing her pistol's magnetic lock to her armor's hip…only one stood out amongst the group. The Asari archeologist stood in a corner with her hands limply hanging by her sides, she was looking around the airlock with nervous eyes as she studied her "comrades", clearly unsure what she should be doing.

Liberius didn't pay her too much more mind than that, there wasn't much more that he could do, after all the actions of all those inside that airlock were gathered from hard won experiences. And although Liberius didn't know the exact stories of each of these warriors he could tell what had failed them at one point in time, a failure that could've cost them their lives, for the Turian it was his eyepiece, the Quarian her electronic programs, the Krogan his safety, the Sergeant her rifle's folding mechanism, and Shepard her magnetic locks. As Liberius's thumb played with the switch on the back of his combi-weapon's grip that selected between bolter and meltagun he faintly smiled underneath his helmet as he exercised his small pre-battle ritual alongside these mortals. In the coming battles, the Asari would learn her own ritual, assuming she survived her mistakes.

The ship shook, and two loud bangs echoed in the airlock, everyone ceased their ritualistic practices and looked to the door, the Commander noted out loud "We've docked."

Liberius turned towards the airlock hatch as it began to pop and hiss as air from outside began to filter in. The hatch then began to lift up, revealing a single figure standing just outside the new hole in the ship. He was human, that much was clear as Shepard's team began to walk out on the platform linked to the Normandy. Liberius took stock of the man, he was short and thin with thick black hair and Asiatic looks, he wore one of those full body rubber-like suits that scientists often wore in this galaxy but most importantly to the Primarch was how awkwardly the man held one of this galaxy's automatic rifles. He looked rather uncomfortable with it, as if he'd never held a weapon before in his life and going off his attire…that wouldn't surprise Liberius much at all.

Unlike many of his sons and most of his brothers, Liberius never found the need to hold disdain for civilians, they had roles to play just like soldiers and their leaders. However…the sight of the man who was clearly afraid of his own weapon filled Liberius with equal parts humor and disgust, weapons were not to be feared by their users, only those on the other end of them, and to see such a cowardly display in front of him only reminded Liberius how much different of a galaxy he was in now. Even when he orchestrated his slave revolt Liberius hadn't seen such feelings amongst his ad-hoc forces who'd never held weapons before in their lives, it was clear that the people of this galaxy were of a much different mindset.

The man nervously scanned over Shepard's team, and especially over Liberius who'd allowed his flames once more to burn free, before stating "Commander Shepard, thank you for arriving on such short notice, Fai Dan is expecting you."

"Fai Dan?" The Commander asked as she stepped out in front of her team.

"Yes, he's our leader. The Geth are getting ready for another push and he'll need your help to prepare for it." The man replied before hiking a thumb behind him and stating that he was just up the stairs past another walkway.

The sudden sound of some sort of rocket reached Liberius's ears just a split second before the local erupted in an explosion of gore, leaving only an intact bottom half as the rest of his body was strewn about by the direct impact of a rocket propelled grenade. Liberius burst into action, raising his combi-weapon and taking aim with the targeting reticle splayed over his visor on a group of three Geth. With a quick and even pull of the weapon's trigger Liberius watched in satisfaction as the three Geth quickly collected several new holes each, their platforms dropping in only moments. Lowering his weapon Liberius looked over to the Commander for her orders but to his humor he found she was busy wiping at her helmet's visor which had been, like the rest of her frontal armor, covered in the local man's gore after the explosion. It was a rather futile effort considering all she was doing was smearing the blood and gore across her helmet rather than wiping it away but one of the team members, the Turian, handed her a rag of some sort which was able to do that job relatively well.

After the short and humorous ordeal was finished the commander tossed the rag aside and hefted her rifle once more, her voice all seriousness as she ordered "Alright, keep your eyes sharp, there's going to be more of them. And watch out for rockets, I don't want any of you on my armor either."

 **/**

 **Unknown Space,** _ **The Revealing Light**_ **, The Banshee, Present Time…**

Keladi Lethidia was very much unhappy with the situation she was in, in fact, that was a massive understatement. Stuck aboard one of the Mon'Keigh's flagships, she and Farseer Varyssa had spent the last two weeks stuck upon the Glorianna-Class Battleship _The Revealing Light_ , the former flagship of the Primarch Liberius. The Battleship was part of a massive fleet that had been formed together by the Primarch and sent into the Warp after he and both his Legion and the Raxian People by extension were declared Excommunicate Traitoris by the Emperor himself. Composed of 200 Combat Ships and 20,000 Civillian or Non-Combat ships it was one of the grandest fleets ever created. Within their holds were two billion Raxian civilians who'd been able to be evacuated and over two-hundred million Raxian Imperial Army troops, pilots, and sailors.

And despite all of this, it was only a fraction of the over twelve billion Raxian civilians who'd been on Raxium itself, or the other billions within the Raxian System or serving within the Imperial Army throughout the Galaxy. Considering this fleet had been Liberius's last ditch effort to save as many of his people as possible…Keladi didn't need to be a Farseer to know what future awaited those left behind by the Fleet. That fact in and of itself was also a cause of concern, not because they had too few civilians or soldiers, after all Keladi knew that the Mon'Keigh bred like the Eldar once did when they were a younger species, but because there was a force within the confines of this fleet that was dangerously low. Out of a force that had numbered slightly over a hundred-thousand, the Sons of Liberius…better known as the Lightbringers were now down to only two-thousand souls…two percent of their previous strength.

"Keladi, thank you for coming, Sister." A voice speaking in the Eldar Lexicon drew Keladi's attention away from her sour thoughts and back towards the present.

Before her stood the only other Eldar in the Fleet, the Farseer who'd led Kaladi and dozens of others of their Clan to Liberius to convince him of the threat of Chaos. They had of course succeeded in doing so, but had failed in their larger objective, convincing the Imperium's Emperor of the threat of Chaos as well. Instead it seemed the Emperor must have seen his son's change of priorities as manipulation by "foul Xenos", going so far as to simply discard his son, his legion, and his people, in order to purge the taint of these "Xenos threats". As such the other Eldar of their party had been sent back to Saim-Hann to report on this failure, the Farseer however had deigned to stay with the Mon'Keigh, seeking to salvage what she could from this situation…her own personal honor demanded she aid these people who's lives she'd ruined by interjecting herself into them. The Farseer had meant to go the trip alone, but Keladi would have none of it, she'd sworn to protect her older sister at all costs and she would not break her oath now.

"Farseer Varyssa, how may I help?" Keladi asked with a slight bow of her head that would've been nearly unnoticeable by the human eye but was as clear as day for the Eldar perception.

"The Space Marine placed in charge of this fleet has called a meeting on the Bridge, he's asked for our presence. I believe we've finally exited the Sea of Souls." The Eldar Farseer stated, turning and walking further down the long hallway that ran down the length of the Mon'Keigh's ship towards the Bridge.

Keladi moved up and positioned herself alongside her Farseer, who's blood-red robes and snow-white helmet were even more eye catching within the dull-grey interior of the battleship than Keladi's wraithbone armor and bright red mane jutting out of her Howling Banshee mask. The eyes of armsmen followed them everywhere as they passed patrols of the dull-grey clad soldiers in their bulbous void-armor based upon their Solar Pattern equivalents, even though Liberius had publicly declared the Eldar of Saim-Hann to be allies of Raxium, many of the Mon'Keigh did not trust the two Eldar "guests" amongst them. Even Keladi could hardly blame them for their mistrust, after all it was their interference that had led to not only the loss of billions of their friends, family, and fellow Raxians, but also the likely death of Liberius himself considering he'd opted to stay and hold Raxium with the majority of his Lightbringers.

They continued on their way towards the Bridge however, undeterred by the stares as Keladi replied, "The Praetor? Are we sure this is not a trap, Farseer? He did not seem rather fond of our presence last we spoke."

"It is not, at the very least, I have not seen it." Varyssa replied, adding, "He, like many of the other Mon'Keigh do not like us, but like all of the Primarch's Sons he would never dream of disobeying his Father's orders. Liberius named us friends of Raxium, these Mon'Keigh will not betray us so long as his memory is still strong in their minds."

"Which means time is against us." Keladi noted, "The Mon'Keigh have notoriously short memories. Shorter than their lifespans at the very least."

Varyssa did not respond to that comment, simply giving a nearly unnoticeable nod as the conversation ended. Not too long after the two Eldar found themselves stopped before a blast door guarded by two Lightbringer Marines, their black Mark III power armor with golden details were eye catching…yet were nothing compared to the ethereal flames coming out from beneath those suits of adamantium and ceremite. The two Marines' glowing red eye-pieces on their helmets turned with their helmets as the Marines stared at the two Eldar's approach, their grips on their weapons slightly tightening at the sight of Xenos traipsing about inside their Father's flagship.

The Marines said nothing and for a few uncomfortable seconds the two parties stared at each other in silence before Varyssa took a step forward and stated aloud in the Mon'Keigh's Low Gothic language, "Greetings, Sons of Liberius. Your Praetor, Loukios, has requested our presence upon the Bridge and we have made haste to answer his call. I do hope we have not kept him waiting?"

Again, the Marines seemingly said nothing, but Keladi could notice the slight movements of their chestplates that clearly showed they were speaking. Obviously, they'd turned off their helmets' microphones that were hidden within their headgears' grills, it wasn't uncommon amongst the Marines of the Second Legion to do this in Keladi's experience, they rarely let their voices be heard outside of internal Vox communications when in the presence of strangers...that meaning anyone who wasn't also a Marine of the Second Legion or a human of Raxian origin. The blast door suddenly began to open with a loud hiss of escaping air as the doors moved aside, the Marines standing watch continuing to say nothing as they stepped aside to allow the two Eldar access to the Bridge of _The Revealing Light_.

"Thank you, Lightbringers." Keladi said absently in the clumsy language that was Low Gothic as she followed her older sister towards their destination, the blast door soon starting to close behind them as quickly as they'd opened.

Once inside Keladi and Varyssa found themselves standing on a raised platform overlooking the Bridge with stairs on either side, the area below was filled with bustling activity as naval officers and sailors scurried about with reports and activity logs. Far ahead of them Keladi could see the viewports of the Bridge and the sight beyond, it was awe-inspiring even for the Eldar Banshee, the sight of such a massive fleet of thousands of ships both large and small as it orbited over a lush, green planet below. It seemed that sixty percent of the planet's surface was land, with great seas of pure blue intermingled inside of the landmass, even from here Keladi could make out tiny blue lines that lazily arced their way towards those seas from others, connecting the world's seas with innumerable mighty rivers, to the North and South giant swaths of snow and ice signaled the arctic poles of the planet. The sight, though beautiful, also felt oddly familiar to Keladi, as if she'd seen it before not too long ago. When she looked over to the Farseer, Keladi could see that Varyssa too was staring at the planet but both her pose and her mask gave away no insight into her thoughts.

Before Keladi could voice a question however, a Mon'Keigh in one of their dull grey armored void suits approached them and stated, "The Praetor has invited you to join him and the others down below…by the holographic table."

Varyssa broke her stare from the viewports and turned, giving a quick look Keladi's way before she fully turned her helmeted head towards the Mon'Keigh and replied, "Very well, we shall not keep him waiting any longer."

The armsman turned and led the two Eldar down one of the flights of metal stairs from the raised platform unto the Bridge proper itself. They turned towards the center of the Bridge and made their way towards where the Captain's chair was, literally connected into the hulking command chair in a morbid synthesis of flesh and metal was the ship's Captain, a large and hulking Mon'Keigh with one of their all too common metal eyes embedded into the right side of his bald head. Keladi always found the man disgusting, more so than average Mon'Keigh, if only because he mutilated himself so fully and replaced his flesh with metal. His chair sat before a large rectangular table built into the floor of the Bridge which was currently surrounded by even more Mon'Keigh, several Marines, and a Mon'Keigh that was even more machine-like than the Captain…in fact Keladi had almost mistaken the disgusting creature as a robotic servant before realizing her mistake, that thing was one of those members of the "Cult Mechanicus" which plague the Mon'Keigh's ranks. One of the Marines had left his head bare for the assembly as he stood at the head of the table, he carried sharp and angled features which even Keladi had to admit were very pleasing to her eye, even the ethereal flames that surrounded him did not steal away his visage's charming nature to the Eldar Banshee.

It was this Marine who spoke first when the two Eldar approached the table, "Ah, Farseer Varyssa, I am happy you accepted my summons for we have business most urgent…even for you."

The Marine's golden eyes carried the slight warning of buried hostility, but he hid it well from his tone, as did the Farseer by Keladi's side as she replied, "Praetor Loukios, I thank you for your summons and apologize deeply for making you wait as long as you have."

"It is of no concern Farseer, now that you are here however, let us begin." Praetor Loukios responded before looking around at the assembled faces around the holographic table.

Among their ranks was the leader of the Raxian Soldiers, High Marshall Lucilia Marcellina, a short woman with blue eyes and long braided blonde hair running down her back, she looked to be in her thirties but in truth was over a hundred years old thanks to rejuvenation therapy. Despite being Terran-born the High Marshall had sided with the Primarch of the Second Legion after serving alongside him for the better part of her life, some seventy years of time in his service had turned her loyalties from the Emperor to his Son. Next to her was Grand Admiral Fion Carr, a Raxian of over two hundred years of age, older than even the Primarch if only by a few years. He'd been responsible for the assembling of the combative ship portion of the evacuation fleet in the Raxium System by hoarding together every ship with Raxian crews and sympathies. It had required a few mutinies here and there, but by and large the vast majority of the fleets joined under the Raxian banner peacefully either due to long time service under Liberius and his Lightbringers or simply having a large portion of their crews being native Raxians.

The older Admiral's close-cropped hair was greyed with age, coupled with his pale and weathered skin there was little youthful in the Admiral's appearance aside from one feature, his hazel eyes. They were bright, even in such dark times as these, Keladi couldn't fathom how the Mon'Keigh managed it. But next to the aged naval officer was the hulking pile of bolts that was Fabricator-General Octavian, the fusion of metal and flesh that stood alongside the other Mon'Keigh was more machine that man, and yet it still was Human…if only. Octavian was clad in the blood-red robes of the Mechanicum, from under which tendrils and mechandrites sprouted forth and moved this way and that as if of a mind of their own. Keladi knew that the creature was born a Raxian and had been a child when the Primarch of the Second Legion had led the slaves of Raxium in the revolt that would win them their freedom, he had joined the Mechanicum's ranks when the Mon'Keigh Emperor had arrived on his son's new homeworld for some reason or other that Keladi had not cared to learn. But what she did know was that after two centuries of service Octavian had become the Fabricator-General of the Forge World that had been built in Raxium's system and which outfitted the Raxian Regiments as well as the Legionaries of the Second Legion with their weapons, armors, and vehicles.

When it became clear that the Mechanicum had turned its back on Raxium and Octavian's Forge World, the Fabricator-General turned his loyalties towards Liberius and managed to collect some ships (mainly factory ships that had already been aiding Raxian/Lightbringer Fleets) and as much machinery as possible to fill them from his Forge World. As much as Keladi disliked the creature's metallic appearance, she knew that perhaps even more so than the Marshall and Admiral besides him, the Fabricator-General was a key piece in rebuilding the Raxian society they had fled. Just as important as the metal creature however was the last of the non-Legionaries (or Eldar) at the table, Consul Tadg Drummond. The Mon'Keigh was small, with tanned features and brown eyes, dressed in dull grey robes and wearing a chain necklace which held the symbol of a golden sun. The man had no military position or even experience, he did not command but rather served, he was the Executive representative of the Raxian people, making him in charge of the vast majority of the ships in the ad-hoc fleet currently orbiting the planet below as they were crewed with the remaining two billion Raxian civilians still left.

He would be the one to lead the Raxians through the immense logistical and organizational challenges that rebuilding their civilization would entail, and as such he played a great role in the time to come. As Keladi and Farseer Varyssa took their spots at the tail-end of the table opposite Praetor Loukios, the Banshee took note of the Legionaries who took up position to their left across from the mortal members at the table. The Heads of the Librarium, Forge, and Apothecarion, alongside with the two combat officers known as Prima Primuses directly below the Praetor in terms of hierarchical structure. Unlike the Praetor they all chose to keep their faceless helms on, but even now Keladi could feel their heated gazes from beneath their unreadable helmets and the flames which flickered about their armored hulks.

Once everyone was in position, the Praetor took a deep breath before starting, his voice calm as he addressed those assembled, "Now that we are all in attendance, let us begin. As you can all see, we've exited the Warp…however we are not where we should be. I shall not waste your time, the planet below us is not Omegan VI, a deserted world not yet colonized. The world below us however is a familiar one…it is Raxium itself."

Keladi raised an eyebrow at that before the huge hulk that was Octavian spoke up in an emotionless and monotone synthesized speech, "Query: What methods were used to reach your hypothesis?"

The Praetor answered quickly, "Star maps…as well as its unmistakable geological features…which leads to another issue we've encountered. Fabricator-General, can you confirm the star maps the Mechanicum provided this Battleship prior to our excommunication are accurate and up to date?"

"Answer: All maps onboard this ship have a 95.89 percent possibility of being the same as those aboard Mechanicum starships in fleet. All such star charts are accurate insofar as current Imperial knowledge of the Galaxy is considered." The Fabricator-General responded.

"Then your star charts will show the same error as ours." Praetor Loukios stated before adding, "The current alignment of stars is incorrect, it took the Shipmaster some time but he eventually realigned the stars as we see now to what we see on the charts…by fast forwarding their movement nearly thirty thousand years."

Keladi had to try her hardest not to react to this news, that conclusion seemed impossible, it seemed insane. …But that planet they orbited, now she understood why it was so familiar, and she couldn't shake the sense that the Praetor was indeed correct on where they were.

"As hard as it is to frekking believe…if the Praetor is certain on his assertion…than I see no reason to disagree." Consul Tadg stated after a pregnant silence at the table.

The Praetor nodded his bare head and replied, "I am certain, and I thank you for your trust in my judgement Consul."

"Of course, Praetor…if I may take the stand however, then perhaps we can see this predicament from a much brighter perspective?" Consul Tadg ventured.

"Take no offense in this, my esteemed Consul, but what do you mean? If what the Praetor says is true, then we have been sent back in time by the uncaring tides of the Warp, back to a time we know little about. If I'm correct then this is still the Age of Terra, Humanity may still be constrained to her own home world, and even if she's managed to step off Terra's soil then she is still small and fragile. Worse yet the Emperor, loved by all, will not arrive until the Unification Wars…some thirty thousand years from now." High Marshall Lucilia countered.

Tadg straightened himself out until he was standing as straight as his military counterpart, Keladi watched the Mon'Keigh dress up his opponent in this verbal duel before finally speaking, "I piss upon the Emperor and I piss upon Terra, High Marshall."

The room went silent at that as those that heard halted their work to stare at the outrageous Consul, Lucilia, a Terran herself looked mortified at the words the Consul had just issued forth…but she formed no words in response as the Consul went forward, "The Emperor, for all we know, has burned our world to the ground and murdered Raxium's greatest Son, the Lightbringer. Aside from yourself High Marshall, all Terrans attached to our forces simply heeded the Emperor's orders and aided in our planet's rape and murder by hostile invaders…and for what? Consorting with Xenos? The Eldar of Saim-Hann were declared friends to Raxium by the Lightbringer himself, a Primarch responsible for the purges of dozens of Xenos civilizations he deemed a threat not only to his beloved home world but to Humanity itself. The Lightbringer served his Father faithfully and did what he believed would benefit all of Humanity.

"The Emperor rewarded His Son's duties and service with Excommunication of both his people and himself for an imagined crime. Billions of our brothers, sisters, friends, and family are now likely dead thanks to the Emperor…even after faithfully fulfilling the tithes set upon us of both Blood and Materials as well as unswerving service for centuries. I say now that we do not need the Emperor and we do not need the rest of Humanity. Let us instead seek to make use of our most opportune fortune in arriving over our own home world in a time much more malleable than the time we left behind. Raxium was self-sustaining during Old Night, and after its compliance the planet still produced much needed minerals and ores for the Imperium and itself.

"According to the Praetor here, the planet below is Raxium, and as we can see it is untouched, pure, and most importantly…free to be recolonized and reused with all the minerals and farmland that had been lost to use before. We have been granted a golden opportunity to restart our Republic that the Lightbringer himself created two centuries ago, let us seize that opportunity and spread his Light to this Galaxy as we create a new and independent Federation of planets free from the tyranny of Terra and the coming Emperor."

His proposal finished, the Mon'Keigh Consul looked around the room to gauge the reactions of those around him. Careful to appear as righteous as he had in his fiery, yet short, speech against the Emperor.

Before he could speak again however the Praetor himself stole the moment of silence and spoke, "While I agree that Raxium lays waiting for recolonization below us, I will caution you this once, and only this once. The Emperor is my brothers' and mine own Grandfather, our father's beloved Father…to you Liberius is merely the Lightbringer, a figure to admire and who's example is to be followed by mortals like yourself Consul. But for us Immortals…us Lightbringers, the Legion of Light, he is our father whom is to be loved and understood. May what I say be remembered here and now, Liberius loved his Father, the Emperor, whom was and is beloved by all. Your words are both a transgression against Him as well as your Lightbringer, as such they will not be heard by me again less I find you wanting and demand a new Consul be selected by the Raxian people."

"Be careful Praetor, your words border dangerously on treason, the Republican institutions founded by your father are not to be overthrown so easily." The Consul countered, and an air of silence pervaded the room before Tadg's face lightened back into a wry smile and his tone changed to one more palpable to the room as he continued, "However, I acknowledge your request and will duly consider it, with all the weight of your conviction behind it."

The Praetor visibly nodded at this, diffusing the situation and the tension in the air slightly as he replied, "I apologize if you think I overstepped my bounds as the ranking military officer during a time of emergency Consul, but I am heartened to hear that you will consider the full force of my request…I shall leave the matter at that if it pleases you."

"It does, my Praetor, now…let us get to meat of the situation…rebuilding what we've lost on Raxium and the other worlds in this system." Consul Tadg replied with an equal bow of his head.

"Agreement: I request permission to begin immediate rebuilding operations on Raxium Inferior, also known as Forge World 687-A32." The hulking monstrosity of Fabricator-General Octavian interjected.

Praetor Loukios seemed to consider the request a moment before shaking his head, "I'm afraid such construction will need to wait until adequate housings can be provided for the two billion Raxians we have in this fleet…but more importantly we'll need the basic startings of mining facilities on the planet before we can even think of rebuilding the Forge World of Raxium Inferior. Without the minerals on Raxium itself the Forge World would be useless."

"Dejected Acceptance: Very well, I shall mobilize the servitors for immediate construction upon Raxium. Addendum: Please consider reconstruction of Forge World 687-A32 to begin ASAP." Octavian replied, Keladi swore for a moment that she'd even heard the monotone voice of the Fabricator-General shift slightly into genuine sadness at the rebuttal.

"Thank you for your understanding Fabricator-General. Consider it a personal promise upon my honor, I will ensure your Forge World is rebuilt as soon as we can spare the manpower and materials. The sooner your world's production lines resume the sooner we'll be back to self-sufficiency." Loukios replied with a genuine smile before turning his head to the High Marshall and then to the Consul, there was a moment of hesitation before the Praetor pushed onwards, "High Marshall, Consul, I require both of your aid on Raxium as well."

"Of course, Praetor, as the head officer of this Crusade your will is my command." High Marshal Lucilia replied with a solemn bow, she looked less shaken now after the Praetor's rebuttal of the Consul's treasonous words.

"What do you require of the Raxian people, my Praetor?" Consul Tadg inquired.

"Consul, I require the best teams of surveyors to be assembled by tomorrow, so that they may go planetside and locate the best locations for agricultural development, it should be easy considering our prior experience with the world, but we do not know what thirty-thousand years of change in reverse may gift us. Nevertheless, we must have proper locations for new agricultural bases within three days, with the beginning of exploitation by the end of a standard Terran week, we have at most two to three months of rations to sustain the current population currently floating above planet if we institute… _ **extreme**_ rationing measures. Once we begin exploitation of these agricultural bases, we'll then focus on locating preferred zones for the future inhabitants of the planet, we can repurpose ships as temporary shelters as well as recycle them as building materials as we get more and more people down below." The Praetor explained before turning to the High Marshal and ordering, "High Marshal, you are hereby ordered to assemble your best survey teams to locate strategic mineral veins for the future mining installations that Fabricator-Octavian's workforce shall construct, alongside this you shall also provide both these survey teams and the Consul's teams with Security teams, we are unsure of the nature of this time's flora and fauna upon Raxium and I do not need casualties so soon after arriving in system. I know you will be able to complete these orders with ease High Marshal."

"Yes, my Praetor, your orders shall be executed immediately." The High Marshal replied with a small bow.

"Your request shall be granted as well, Praetor Loukios, the Raxian people shall comply as we always have with the Legion of Light's requirements." Consul Tadg replied with a wry smile.

"Good, now, Grand Admiral…I require your aid to the cause as well. You are hereby ordered to organize armed patrols throughout the system with the task of scanning all planets and the surrounding void of the system for any signs of trickery or danger of any sort. I do not wish for us to be caught off-handed." The Praetor then ordered as he turned to the aged Raxian.

The Admiral saluted stiffly before replying, "Aye, Praetor, your will be done."

With that the Praetor seemed to release a breath he was holding before then stating, "Thank you Grand Admiral Carr, now, you four have your missions. You are now dismissed, I shall issue to you all reports of the further meeting that are of interest to your various concerns, however what follows here is to be of top Legion matters."

"Of course, my Praetor, I shall see to it that your request be completed forthwith. I look forward to your report on the further meeting." The Consul replied before bowing his head in respect and turning to leave the holographic table.

The various military and Mechanicum leaders followed suit and Keladi looked to her older sister as Varyssa then asked, "Does this order apply to my sister and I, Praetor Loukios? I would not like to intrude in any private matters of your Legion that you are not comfortable with sharing."

That was a lie, Keladi knew, after all knowledge was power to a Farseer like Varyssa, it was their very nature to be inquisitive and seek out the strands of the future so that they could better lead the Eldar people away from their ever-encroaching destruction.

The Praetor's eyes were hard and the guttural laugh that followed the Varyssa's words surprised even Keladi, who found the noise more unnerving than any of her worst screams as a Banshee, "No, Farseer, before we left my father gave me strict orders to protect and treat you two Eldar as if you were my sisters. I have no delusions as to what he meant, and while I may disagree, it is clear that he meant I am to treat you as sisters of the Legion…in other words, honorary members. I know not why my father put such faith in you Xenos, but he has given me orders, and I like any good son must follow his father's orders to the letter. As such, you are privy to the information I am about to discuss with my brothers here."

Varyssa inclined her head towards the Praetor at that, Keladi following suit before the Farseer replied in a calm and gentle tone that mimicked Mon'Keigh gratitude, "I thank you and your father for your trust, Praetor Loukios. I promise you it is not misplaced in the slightest."

Loukios smirked at that before replying, "We'll see if that is the truth in due time, will we not? Now, Master Apothecary Vexal, I shall start with you…what is our status regarding the standing of the Legion?"

The Master of the Apothecarion stepped forward towards the table and looked between Keladi and her sister and his Praetor before answering vocally in a gravelly and seemingly aged voice from behind the slight tinge of synthetization by his helmet's speakers, his black and gold armor offset by his white shoulder pauldron with the symbol of the Apothecarion to show his position in the Legion, "Brother Loukios, we stand at two-thousand healthy and fully capable Battle Brothers strong currently, however with the majority of the Initiates and Neophytes being granted to us by our father, this number with be doubled by next standard year, with another two-thousand the year after. That should bring us up to six-thousand Battle Brothers should casualties be light or nonexistent the next two years. However…"

The Apothecary paused, his head staring to the floor as he struggled to find the right words before the Praetor pressed, "And? What troubles you brother?"

The Master Apothecary looked back up before stating, "However, our pools of current initiates and neophytes will then be drained fully by then…if we wish to grow further or replenish heavier losses, we may be required to scour the entirety of the remaining young males within the two billion surviving Raxians. Under normal circumstances this would be of no issue as plenty would volunteer to become members of our Legion which was of considerable size before our flight…but should we suffer any heavy forms of attrition now at our much weakened state…we may be necessitated to begin forcefully recruiting every young male with even the smallest of possibilities of surviving the selection process."

"A grave breach of Raxians' civil liberties." Praetor Loukios noted before asking, "How many potential recruits do we know of now within the surviving young male population of the Raxian civilians?"

"About ten thousand have high genetic matches, meaning they'd likely survive the selection process, they were all selected because of this to be amongst the two billion Raxians chosen for salvation by our father." Vexal replied.

Loukios went into thought once more, holding his angled chin with a power-armored hand before looking back to his brother and asking, "How many of those are orphans or without any known guardians?"

Keladi watched the Apothecary mimic his Praetor's former stance, most likely reviewing information within the confines of his helmet, before replying, "Over six thousand, many of their parents were considered non-essential by our father."

"Good, have your Apothecaries approach those boys first, offer them a new family in the Legion…most if not all of them should join, that should keep our rate of reinforcement steady over the next half a decade. However, we must focus on growth as well, I'll have the Consul give permission to you to begin screening all young males within the civilian population for those who can potentially be recruited into the Legion, from there we'll begin a recruitment drive, I want us to reach ten thousand Battle Brothers by the end of the next five years." Praetor Loukios stated.

"I will prepare a report for you once our screenings are completed on how to best accomplish such a daunting task, Brother Loukios." The Master Apothecary replied before stepping back from the holographic table.

"Master of the Forge, brother Taavis…I hope you have good news on the status of our equipment and vehicles?" Praetor Loukios now stated towards another of his Astartes brethren whose armor had been modified to allow three mechandrites to protrude from the Marine's back.

He stepped forward, his pauldron colored a rusty red to symbolize his position like the Master Apothecary before him before a rather synthesized voice replied, "The Machine Spirits have been tranquil throughout our voyage, there is little to report in terms of malfunctions…currently we stand at 99.087% efficiency with our wargear. Even I did not expect such efficiency despite my talents and those of my subordinates…truly the Omnissiah has blessed us."

"Finally, some good news. Thank you, my brother. Now, Chief Librarian Daivos…I believe you had something you wished to speak to me about?" Loukios now asked the last of his lead specialists.

This Astartes was different from the others, while all the Lightbringers were obviously psykers to some degree, even Keladi could feel the psychic power radiating off this particular Astartes. He wore armor in the same colors as those of his brothers, aside from paldrons with his own personal iconography, but what distinguished him from the others physically was his helmet. It was an artificer helmet in the shape of a golden skull with burning red eyes, a copy of his father's own helmet, a helmet worn only by the Librarians and their father, those Astartes with considerable psychic power which could be used on the field of battle against the foes of Liberius…in Keladi's warrior mind they were the most dangerous of the Lightbringers to deal with and so she eyed this particular "Battle Brother" with calculated concern underneath her Banshee mask.

"Thank you, Gene Brother." The Chief Librarian replied as he stepped towards the holographic table they stood around, his voice somehow more emotionless than that of his more mechanized brother who wore the colors of Mars.

"I'm thankful you've allowed our honorary sisters to remain here for this mission, for this issue will require the aid of the Farseer Varyssa." Daivos continued, his helmeted head turning slightly to gaze upon the two Eldar in attendance.

"What do you need of me, Chief Librarian? I am of course eager to aid in any way possible." Varyssa replied, Keladi knew from her tone she bore a small smile underneath her helmet, she knew it was likely fake as well.

"Farseer, does that wretched God of Chaos, She Who Thirsts, try to prod your psychic defenses? Does She seek your soul as we speak?" Daivos asked calmly and with no emotion, mirroring the rest of his words so far, it was starting to unnerve Keladi…especially with this new line of questioning.

Her sister was silent a few pregnant moments, unmoving, but Keladi knew she was exerting more energy now than she ever could physically. The silence continued for some uncomfortable seconds as Varyssa refused to answer, as the seconds dragged on Keladi grew worried, she took in her sister's unmoving form and couldn't stop the tinge of fear she felt.

"Sister…can you hear me?" Keladi asked tentatively, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder in an effort to rouse her attention.

"Yes…I can…" Varyssa answered absently before turning her head straight towards the Chief Librarian and asking in a more conscious state, "The Sea of Souls…it feels so…empty. I…I can't explain it…I've never once felt this before. …Is this your doing somehow?"

The brief pauses between words would've been normal for a slightly startled Mon'Keigh, but Keladi knew that for an Eldar those precious seconds were nearly an eternity…something was deeply wrong.

"No…it is not. I have been in meditation since we've left the Immaterium and I sensed its change the moment we returned to realspace. Clearly the past's Immaterium is far different from ours, it is almost dead, yet there are still eddies and ripples, I can feel them." Daivos answered evenly.

"I…wait, no, this makes sense. Praetor, you said we're thirty thousand years in the past, that means we are in a time before the Fall of the Eldar…that means the Eldar Empire of before is out there. We are in a prime position to intervene and halt the birth of She Who Thirsts, we can strike a blow against Chaos the likes of which it has never felt. Please, Praetor, you must bring us to where the Eye of Terror would be, we must warn my people!" Varyssa begged in a desperate plea, losing her mask of emotions she'd so expertly been wearing just moments before…Keladi simply stepped back in shock at both the revelation and her sister's sudden change in attitude.

"No." Was the Praetor's simple reply.

"But, why? If we can stop the Fall, then we can stop Chaos from ever growing out of control!" Varyssa argued.

"Your race at this point in your history is entirely made out of pyskers, and numbers in the billions if not more, correct?" Praetor Loukios asked. 

"Yes, we are, that is why we birthed Slaanesh, that is why we must move immediately to halt Her birth! It's far more important than any single world or even a system no matter the interest to you!" Varyssa replied, her mask completely thrown out the window at this point, Keladi started to wonder if she should interfere and halt this loss of control on her sister's part, surely this was overreaction at its finest?

Before she could however Daivos spoke up once more in his monotone voice, "I believe my Gene Brother has reached the same conclusion I have. Your race at this point in your recorded history should have caused such waves within the Warp that it would not be filled with calm eddies and ripples…but rather crashing waves of psychic energy, daemons of the warp should be whispering to us as we speak, energized by a race of billions of pyskers…and yet, they are not."

Now Keladi was truly losing her calm, she put her hand back on Varyssa's shoulder to stop her reply before asking, "What are you getting at, Mon'Keigh?"

"As much as I appreciate the tables being so turned at this moment, I believe I too wish to hear your answer Gene Brother. Please, enlighten us on your theory, I want to see if mine matches up." Praetor Loukios stated towards his brother with a wry smile at the situation.

"I believe the Eldar do not currently exist. Or…at least not in the numbers your history speaks of." Daivos stated as evenly as all of his speech before adding, "It will require more meditation on both our parts Farseer…but perhaps we can find the truth of the matter in the Immaterium's ripples?"

"That's impossible! You said we're thirty thousand years in the past, the Eldar Empire must exist! There's no other choice! Our history was preserved by us, it can't have been fabricated!" Keladi countered, her cool exterior giving way to anger at such a bold claim.

"No…Keladi, calm down, keep off your mask of war. These are still our allies." Varyssa stated in a defeated tone as she spoke in their native language, she seemed to have begun to recover from her outbursts thanks to Keladi's intervention as she composed herself and stated towards the Astartes, "I agree with you Chief Librarian…we must both meditate on this matter. Please, Praetor Loukios, forgive my sister's and my own outbursts, this is a strange situation we find ourselves in, one for which we have never previously prepared. If I may, can my sister and I retire to our quarters? We must both recompose ourselves and mediate on this matter, it has been most shameful on our parts."

The Praetor's wry grin never left his face as he replied amusedly, "Of course, there is nothing to forgive, I believe we all have had a rather emotional briefing. Please, my brothers and I shall soon finish our business here, I believe we have no further issues for you."

"Thank you, Praetor." Varyssa said, her voice suddenly back to its regal evenness, as if nothing ever happened, an easy task even for an emotionally compromised Eldar.

As the two sisters retired from the bridge of the _Revealing Light_ , Loukios couldn't help but sigh and think to himself _'I cannot blame you your emotional state, Xenos. For we too thought easy victory was within reach, only to watch it all burn away.'_


End file.
